The White Reaper
by trollord3000
Summary: An AU crossover where Taylor triggers as Bio-Tinker that creates Quinques with a Brute classification through becoming a half-human (How Arima was in the series). The story is an AU because instead of sticking to canon Worm timeline, I chose to change the start of canon from 2011 to 2013 as well as the date that Taylor triggers. (This will also be available on SB)
1. Chapter 1

Prologue 1.1

June 17, 2008

Taylor Hebert was still having a rough time accepting the fact that her mother Annette Hebert was dead. Dead for a week now. June 10, 2008, a date she will never forget. A fact of life now that she will never her mother's voice again, never feel the warmth of her embrace, and it was all her fault! She was impatient! She had agreed with her mother that they will start planning her birthday party when she returned home. The 19th was only days away and she was just too excited! Her best friend Emma Barnes was gonna be there, Emma's parents Alan and Zoe Barnes and even Emma's sister Anne. Her mother Annette and her father Danny were gonna be there and it would be a blast.

But she had to be impatient, didn't she? She was supposed to go over the details of the party when her mother came back, but she was impatient and called her mother while she was driving. Not two minutes into the phone call she heard her mother scream in terror, then in pain. She could still remember the sound of her bones crunching, her flesh tearing as what she was struck at an intersection by what appeared to be the unholy combination of a monster truck and bus by Squealer; a tinker part of the Merchant's gang of Brockton Bay. A gang her mother warned her about since they didn't really care about age or gender but would ambush strangers and forcibly inject them with whatever drugs they had to create their own demand and expand their gang with those willing to join for the next dose. She even saw with her very eyes when she was six the consequences of these drugs; when some heroin addict had an episode on the bus when she with her mother. She knew then and there that drugs were simply _wrong_.

The fact that Squealer was drugged off her mind, it was no surprise that she crashed her abomination right after she killed Annette and ended up getting arrested by Armsmaster who was pursuing her. This may have given her some satisfaction knowing that her mother's killer was behind bars, but the fact that Squealer was broken out of jail only 3 days later by her boyfriend Skidmark; leader of the Merchants, along side some other non-powered members, with no one able to stop them shook her to her core. She remembered watching the news at Emma's house. The fury, the hatred, the crushing disappointment that the heroes she idolized for many years of her life could not even properly stop a doped up nobody from freeing his partner from jail after she committed crimes that would rightly land her there. It was as if the heroes were not even trying to keep the SCUM from escaping. Her fists clenched and her eyes watered and Emma was always there to comfort her, but this time it was no use, she remembered the sound of her mother's body getting crushed and mutilated by the accident, her screams as she died, and how the heroes couldn't do their jobs properly, and how at the end of the day; IT WAS ALL HER FAULT! Her mother would have surely heard the Merchant's vehicle if she wasn't so preoccupied with her phone. No, if she wasn't so preoccupied with Taylor and her impatience.

Then she saw it

_Destination_

Huge creatures made of many shards of glittering gold. Existing everywhere yet seemingly nowhere. So large that one of their shards was as large, if not larger than the Earth itself.

_Agreement_

One of the shards angled towards her as she tried to understand what she was seeing, understand what was happening. But at the same time, she couldn't keep the wayward thought that plagued her mind before the start of this weird vision. The sound of her mother screaming, her bones breaking, her flesh tearing.

_Trajectory_

The shard moved towards her. Closer and closer as the sounds of her mother's last moments amplified in her mind. The rage at the villain that took her mother from her. The hatred she felt for herself for how idiotic she was, and the crushing disappointment of the incompetence of the heroes

_Agreement_

The brilliant shard of gold slammed into her head and Taylor flinched on the sofa next to Emma, a half-forgotten dream of gold and impossibly large _things_ at the edge of her mind. Tears flowing down her face. Emma gave her a one-armed hug and pulled her on her shoulder trying to comfort her friend in her time of need; but what she did not know was the thoughts that intruded Taylor's mind. Designs of weapons made of flesh and bone with a potential to evolve with instinctive knowledge of how to use them. The first of them to pop into mind was a black Lance with a sword handle and various triggers and twisting mechanical sections to allow expansion and form changes to the weapon from a lance to a shield in addition to various applications of the attack and defensive modes of the weapon.

_A devil's sweet whispers of how her mother can be with her again._ That if she ends up strong enough; skilled enough, she cannot only avenge her mother, but her mother could avenge herself in some twisted way form. Emma did not notice the faint upturn of Taylor's lips. But what Taylor herself did not know or notice was the sudden mutation that took place in her blood. A spreading mutation where her red-blood cells starting changing shape; turning into what would look like a curled up fetus. A change that will take time to show any signs of its presence, but major change nonetheless

And so Taylor decided that to get her mother back, it would be necessary for her father to help. And for him to help he would need to know the details. She researched how parahuman gained their powers and stumbled on an article regarding trigger events, the uncontested worst day of a person's life. She also immediately knew that she was a bio-tinker as she need human or animal remains to forge her weapons, a power that reminded her of Bonesaw, one of the Slaughterhouse Nine that everyone and their mother knew to have as little relation to in anyway possible. It was to the extent that some names became almost taboo within the US society; most prominently the name Jack turned from a common name to a highly avoided one. So, Taylor understood the potential problems that might happen if people find out about her.

And so, as Taylor finally walked up to her house making sure to skip the rotted step that her dad planned to fix for years, she rang the doorbell and a few seconds later her father opened the door to let her in. He nodded to Uncle Alan as he drove off shit the door behind him. Taylor and Danny just stood there staring at each other feeling every awkward second pass by until Danny took a deep breath, held it for a couple of seconds then let it out. He forced a smile that looked forced in every sense of the word and said, "Sorry it took me this long Taylor. It just took me a while to wrap my head around everything that happened."

The silence returned for a few more seconds until Taylor forced a smile herself that looked as painful as Danny's "I know dad. We both needed some time to wrap our heads around the situation. I know Uncle Alan helped with your case like Emma helped with mine." Her smile wavered for a second her lips twitching with emotion and she her dad. Taylor wept, the false image of acceptance crumbling as she couldn't bring herself to lie to her dad. Danny returned the embrace tightening his arms around her, his own façade breaking in the face of the raw emotion.

They both moved to the coach and stayed there for an hour with Taylor laying her head on Danny's shoulder as he gave her a one-armed hug, filling her heart with warmth and sense of safety and security, knowing that she would not be alone in this; but she had to tell him now that she triggered or she knew for a fact that she will chicken out of telling him and she would regret that. So she softly called out, "Dad" and Danny replied with a "Hmmm". Taylor took a deep breath and asked, "Do you know how humans become parahumans? How they gain powers?" Danny started slightly feeling the safe net he built in the previous hour collapse, his mind racing remembering al that Annette told him about capes and what she learned from her days with Lustrum. "Yes?" Danny turned his head looking at his daughter who was making sure not to meet his eyes. "Why do you ask?" he questioned knowing a possible answer that will surely complicate their life. He watched then as she took a deep breath, then another, then another, and turned meeting his gaze wearily. "I have powers dad. I became a parahuman".


	2. Chapter 2

Prologue 1.2

Danny froze. He knew this was coming the moment Taylor asked that questions. He knew what was needed for people to gain powers; to become Parahumans. To think that not only would his wife die, but that his almost _twelve-year-old _daughter would trigger. Everything was collapsing around him, but before panicking he did the one thing that needed to be done. He gave Taylor the biggest hug he could. She tucked her head in the crook of his neck and he could feel her tears staining his skin but he kept moving his hands through her hair from its roots all the way down to its tips.

"Everything is gonna be okay Little Owl. Everything is gonna be fine." He kept repeating over and over again trying to calm her down. When she calmed down enough the first question he asked was "Did you tell anyone else? Emma maybe?" He felt her head shaking side to side as she murmured "No" into his neck. He took a deep breath, held it in for a couple of seconds then exhaled. "Taylor" he called, "your powers Little Owl? What are your powers?" She stiffened. He felt like the world was gonna crumble again. She didn't move from her position. He felt her more than saw her hesitate then she continued in that murmur "Remember Bonesaw from the Slaughterhouse Nine, and how you and mom told me about her power and how Bio-Tinkers like her are seen in a negative light?"

Shit! Danny knew were this was going, but still, he had an entire week to get himself together and he's not falling apart now. No matter what. "I-I can make weapons out of organics, flesh and bone. No plants." He'd seen it coming but it was still a horrible experience to know that your daughter may have the book thrown at her for simply having this power. The very fact that her powers need 'organics' means that simple use of her power will require animal or human corpses. Live ones could potentially even be used. "…Jesus" Danny murmured. Annette told him how powers worked, she explained how they seemed to want to be used and if they were neglected they would drive the cape mad, with that going double for tinkers. Taylor remained silent. Her face in the crook of his neck unmoving.

But then stirred and looked at him with red puffy eyes showing behind those thick glasses of hers. "Dad…" she spoke. He looked at her waiting for her to finish. "M-my power has been bugging me for the past few days. I keep getting a schematic for one weapon that my power is pushing me to make. I tried finding other things to build but they only showed up the moment I gained my power and I can't remember any of them. I think I need to build what I have available to get access to whatever else my power has available. It feels like power wants me to build this first before accessing any of the rest…" Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath for what he felt to be the millionth time in this hour. With his eyes still closed he asked, "What do you need to build Taylor? What materials do you need to build the thing you need?" trying to maintain the illusion of calm. He was in control. Things will be fine he repeated to himself.

He felt Taylor fidget beside him. He opened his eyes and saw her biting her bottom lip, her face pale as a ghost, avoiding eye contact entirely. "Well?" he asked again trying to false the illusion into reality. His Little Owl looked at him again and said something in a voice that was too low for him to hear even with her sitting right next to him. "What do you need Taylor?" He asked again his heart beating a million beats per minute. "Come on Taylor just tell me what you need." He insisted. And Taylor, for all her preparation for this discussion felt her courage withering away. How was she supposed to tell him that her power specifically asked for her mother, his wife's corpse? So she decided to just blurt it out "My power says I need Mom!"

Danny felt his heart skip a beat and he froze. He clenched his jaws and his hands formed into fists. He could feel the infamous Hebert temper start to show its head as the vein on his neck bulged and his face started turning red. His eyebrows furrowed and he was about to explode until he saw Taylor somehow paler than before, shivering in fear. He felt his heart twisting in pain as he almost lost control. The last words he said to Annette were words of rage that he was sure he had hurt her with. He will regret that to the end of life. But no matter what, he could never use that anger against Taylor. He understood her pain perfectly, because he knew that simply lashing and anger at Annette had destroyed him after her death but being on the phone with her when she died might put his daughter in a very dangerous mental space.

He forcibly calmed himself and startled Taylor when he pulled her back into another hug trying to calm her again telling her that everything would be alright. Taylor passed out in his arms, the stress of the situation and the whole ordeal simply weighing too much on her. He carried her into her room and tucked her in her bed.

He went straight to his room and laid down on his side of the bed. He knew that society will never forgive him for what was going to do. He knew that if hell existed he might burn there for what he was going to do. But what he knew most was that Annette would skin him alive if he didn't help their Little Owl, even if what was needed was her corpse dug out the grave. After all, with powers like Taylors, the Protectorate and the PRT are out of the equation. So its being kidnapped and forced to work for villains, getting Birdcaged for having an 'unethical' power.

Danny was a reasonable man, he was afraid of dead wife more than he was afraid of the state, after all he went against the state everyday for the Dockworkers' Union. But his wife on the other hand would find a way to haunt him from the afterlife. He felt himself grin a little and muttered, "Powers or no powers, we're broken both the same Little Owl."

June 18, 2008

The next day Taylor was nervous. She found a note from her dad telling her that he would be busy all day and that there was food in the fridge for her to eat when hungry. She was antsy all day. Only ate a few bites and couldn't eat anymore, her anxiety over how the discussion ended last night eating away at her very being. The house phone rang and she knew it was most likely Emma checking on her, but she was too worked up to speak. Her heart beating out of her chest out of anxiety. Will her dad call the PRT? What was she supposed to do then? She knew her dad loved her but her power was similar to Bonesaw for Scion's sake. No matter how much he loved her the power she had was unethical and against human nature in a way. Using human, parahuman, and animal corpses to craft weapons. Completely insane! It is true that she wants to use her power for good, but the evil that needed to be done to reach the starting point was too much. Taylor stayed up late that night waiting for her dad to get back. She fell asleep on the couch before he returned.

June 19, 2008

Taylor woke up in her room. It was her birthday today. She was officially twelve. Since she did not wake up in a jail cell some place it means her dad did not sell her out. She went downstairs to the kitchen and found a note on the table. _'Will be late at work today Little Owl. There's some takeout I got yesterday on my way back home in the fridge. See you tonight. – Love, Dad.' _The note didn't mention anything they talked about and she started having a minor freak out until she flipped the piece of paper and her eyes widened. _'PS. Check the basement. Took me a while to get to some people that owe me a few favours and wouldn't ask any questions from all these years at the Union. Happy Birthday Little Owl. – Love, Dad'._ Taylor opened the basement door, ran down the stairs and what she found shocked her. The floor, walls and even the ceiling covered in easily replaceable nylon. The clutter that used to infest the place was gone. In the middle of the basement floor, a small table with some material you'd expect to find in a surgery room was sitting. Right next to it, an long metal table that she saw some like in medical TV shows was standing there with her mother laying atop it. Annette's face and shoulders was the only part showing and the rest of her body was covered in a white sheet.

Taylor felt a knot form in her throat as she saw her mother lying. She quickly removed the sheet and stared at the stitched-up cuts and bruises still on her body. She hasn't been dead for long so she wasn't decomposing yet but Taylor felt tears rolling down her against her cheeks because when she touched her mother's hand she realised just how _cold_ she was. Taylor wore the disposable blue outfit that was prepared for her and felt her power let loose. Telling her how and where to cut, what to use now in the crafting and what to store. What to use from the various chemicals available in the house and how to mix them to achieve the optimal result. This was the last birthday Taylor ever spent with her mother. A birthday filled with tears, blood, guts, and lots of _bone_.

When Danny returned it was already the 20th. He found Taylor sleeping in a corner in the basement. Her legs pushed up against her chest, her arms curled around her shins, and her chin resting on her the small curve formed by her knees. He noticed thick bloody bandaged wrapped around her forearms and wrists. She looked exhausted. She looked pale. Like she almost bled to death, and Danny saw some of his guys almost bleed to death when the gangs tried to mess with the union. He looked at the metal table, his face twisted in sorrow and tears fell freely down his face, he sobbed and hiccupped but no matter how loud he cried Taylor was too exhausted to even hear. The only remnants of Annette were the few blood spatters stuck on the table. In the middle of the table laid a wide translucent box filled with blood. What could only be discerned was the black shadow of a lance attached to a sword-gun handle. On top of the box there was a label that made him sob harder. But it made him come to realisation. A realisation that his daughter was going to be a cape whether he likes it or not because there is no other choice. So even if she doesn't have any weapons to use, she must know how to defend herself properly. So he will be looking at every possible close quarters combat trainer he can find in the Bay; and even if he has to sell the house for her to take the lessons he will, because his daughter won't be fighting in close quarters to win, but to survive; and Danny would be damned if he doesn't prepare his daughter for every single scenario.

The label stated: -

**ANNETTE: I**

Koukaku Type Quinque

Shifter Type Quinque: Has an Offensive and Defensive Form,

_Due to Mother having the potential to trigger, as confirmed by the Corona Pollentia found in her brain; the rank of this weapon (after full RC Cell integration with the merged spine fragments forming the frame, and the Corona Pollentia forming the weapon's ability core) is estimated to be around S+._

_Please Note: Weapon requires additional six months of daily 2 Litre Blood Transfusion to replace the absorbed blood and allow the weapon to grow to its full potential._


	3. Chapter 3

Shift 1.1

July 12, 2010

Taylor was sitting at the kitchen table a cup of tea in her hands reflecting on the past two years of her life and reviewing her plans for the future. She was now fourteen years old and in the past two years many things have changed. Physically speaking she had a growth spurt making her stand at 5'8 (172cm). She had her hair cut to just under her chin as instructed by her various close-quarter-combat instructors since they made a clear point that her hair not only got in the way; but was a liability that could get her killed if she was fighting even an unskilled gangbanger in the streets. After all it was a rule in the streets that those who fight dirty are the ones that tend to walk out alive in Brockton Bay.

Thanks to her dad, she managed to try her hand at many styles including Kung-Fu, Krav Maga, and Muay Tai. Thanks to her power however, she became talented in understanding how her body works, how it can move, and how it was changing everyday thanks to the RC cells running through her veins. This made it easier for her to learn where her limits were and what would be best for her to utilize considering her physique. She decided to focus on flexibility and speed, this would allow her not only to dodge her opponents but would also grant her a higher chance of speedily exploiting openings to deliver devastating blows with her weapons. Her usually owlish eyes were almost constantly narrowed in focus, and these god-awful circle-framed thick glasses were replaced with small framed ones she tinkered up from the remnant sludge not absorbed by ANNETTE when crafting the weapon. These glasses proved to somehow be difficult to remove even when getting beaten into the ground at her training sessions.

The only weapon she tinkered in the past two years was ANNETTE I; that she kept improving with her RC cells until it reached its S+ predicted rank on December 19, 2009; a full year after the initial estimates delivered by her powers, fully maturing into ANNETTE III. The weapon proved to only react to her due to the synchronization of her RC Cells with the weapon. If anyone else were to hold it the weapon will the remain in its portable brief case form, and will return to that form if anyone else but her holds it. Her power thankfully supplied her with information regarding a force activated state that will allow the weapon to expand into its maximum length in the four cardinal directions; covering a 100 meter radius and notifying the user of the weapon's exact location by having the RC Cell merged Corona Pollentia act as a beacon to the user through power induced RC cell resonance. This resonance is always present in a muted that allows Taylor to know the general direction of her weapon considering it is partially made of her blood.

However, no matter how she wished to use ANNETTE and go caping, she could only perform simple stabs at the moment considering the extremely high skill level and strength required to utilizing the weapon to its full extent. It was simply a matter of time until her body becomes capable enough to utilize the weapon without strain. Which leads to the second major change that Taylor went through. She noticed that the more RC Cells she used in her tinkering, the higher the upper limit became in her body. They were marvellous things these cells, Liquid Muscle would be a suitable description for them, the higher number she had, the stronger she was, the faster she reacted, the faster she healed, the more she could ignore damage to a certain extent. This by all means does not mean that she will ever get to a ramped up Lung or a Crawler levels of regeneration; but what would normally take months to heal will take weeks; and what takes weeks will take days instead. This became quiet apparent when the deep slashes on her wrists and arms from her tinkering and training ended up becoming faint scars that were almost unnoticeable on her pale skin. This power however did not come without consequences; as the more RC Cells she had, the faster her other cells aged.

She might not look that different, but fourteen-year-old Taylor had the telomeres at a level that would be naturally found in twenty-five to thirty-year-old adults. The fact that the insides of her body doubled in age while somehow maintaining above human levels of strength and dexterity was worrying. She did not know if Panacea was able to regenerate her telomeres, or basically extend her life, but she felt that her powers would make her body immune to healing through other powers. Her powers were essentially a double-edged sword that will let her become more powerful at the price of her life. She also knew for a fact the process will not slow down in the slightest so after Tinkering a protective suit of armour; that to her bafflement looked nothing like armour, Danny officially banned her from tinkering.

The armour itself was made of two layers. An all-black skin-tight long-sleeved shirt and pants made of the non-absorbed drying remains of the organic material used in creating ANNETTE. The shirt extended from her back down to right over her knees with the sides of the extension covering the front of her legs like a coat. Lace-less, knee high black combat boots that look more like horse riding leather boots. The first step was completed with bone white shoulder guards with straps connecting the guards to each other across her body, and with straps on each side connected to a bone white belt that wrapped around the pants and over the back of her shirt's extension to secure everything properly. The guards made her shoulders look slightly broader that they were when wearing the second layer of her armour; a white trench coat that ended right under her knees. It had Kevlar, animal bone dust and a lot of fresh RC cells added when it was weaved. The RC cells in the armour made it so that the armour would grow with Taylor in protective abilities the more RC cells she integrated and would always fit her as micro threads punctured her skin when putting it on and allowed the material to adjust to her body type.

After completing the armour in March, 2010 she took to wearing it in the basement to get used to the movement she learned from her instructors and merge what she learned with the lethal techniques her power provided. Danny ended up clearing the materials Taylor used for her tinkering into one of the least used offices in the Union. He had nothing to worry about since she had long since used whatever leftovers from the modifications she made of ANNETTE. Danny and Taylor expected the Tinkering ban to be challenging, but it was easier to manage than expected considering her power was being cooperative and focusing on body improvement than tinkering. The fact that her power practically evolved to include detailed body movement and styles of combat in addition to the increase knowledge of RC cells and the state of her body lead Taylor to hypothesize that she may have had a second trigger while creating ANNETTE I. She did not remember experiencing any visions. She did not remember most of the day she spent making ANNETTE I. However, she found that the one she went through initially was clearer in some respects.

That was what changed regarding her powers, but in terms of daily life the change was more drastic. For starters, Taylor started going with Danny to the Dockworkers' Union almost everyday. She would be present when negotiations took place and learned through these years to school her features and voice and be in control to the best of her abilities. She would practice maintaining a neutral expression at all times. The less micro expressions she showed the better. She needed to watch her voice as well. She always needed to sound calm and collected; in control. She learned to pick up on different tones of voice and what they mean. Danny thought it was a bit too much but Taylor's paranoia about some Thinker connecting the dots with their power while she was out in her civilian identity made her ignore Danny's thoughts on the matter.

To Taylor Hebert, the past two years were not all sunshine and rainbows. Because the first thing the her father told her on July 20, 2008; the very next day after she had her last birthday with her mother, was; "You and I are going to see a therapist on this matter." A Therapist! Taylor was frustrated, scared, and worried, and angry that she would have to tell anyone about what happened. She didn't even think to tell Emma about it but her dad wanted her to tell some random shmuck about all this!? She tried her best rebelling, but her dad put his foot down and took her to the Dockworkers' Union; kicking and yelling, swearing not to speak about anything on the matter. That it was nobody's business what she and her dad went through. A few hours later the private therapist; John Dawkins, that works with the Union members that need someone to talk to after dealing with deaths or injuries from gangs was seeing Danny and Taylor.

John Dawkins, was pale, sweating bullets, swearing on every god around that he wouldn't even think of what he talks to Taylor about outside the session; after she made it clear that she would make him her first weapon created from a live subject. She also elaborated on how she would make sure that he feels every second of pain and agony available and would be denied the sweet release of death no matter how much he begged. The therapy helped her and her Dad considerably. And thinking back on it she was in a horrible state of mind, especially since she may have that she second triggered during the operation.

Thanks to therapy, her faith was slightly reduced in the Protectorate even with their incompetence. She even searched for the records on all of Armsmaster's fights and concluded that the mman was no man at all. He was a machine. Any time he encounters anything new he would come back prepared with a counter the next patrol he had. It was rumoured that he finished designing the Endbringer predictor system that he was working on with Dragon, alongside his combat predictive software a year ago, and the change was obvious. The man could dodge Telekinetically enhanced projectiles thrown by The Simurgh without even looking. The skills he developed over the year were culminated into a machine-like efficient method of fighting that made even Lung praise him in their last engagement. She even took notes and the efficiency of Armsmaster's style was similar to the techniques she when it came to close-range engagement. Both their styles relied on potential high-risk high-reward attacks. But while Armsmaster had his tech to aid him, Taylor was building herself to be the master of her body, the master of her mind. That was the extent of cape related matters she looked at over the past two years and besides what she thought might help her from Armsmaster she knew nothing of the current cape affairs in the Bay.

Furthermore, the therapy was so successful it made relaxed and confident on her situation, she even told her dad that she may let Emma in on the secret. Her relationship with Emma deteriorated quite considerably in the past two years, since Taylor was focusing on keeping herself safe. She hasn't slept over at Emma's house or had Emma sleep over at hers more than a handful of times unlike the every weekend arrangement they had prior to her mother's death. She hadn't even seen the girl since the beginning of March.

Highschool was even supposed to start sometime in August and she still haven't told Emma that she was going to Arcadia on a scholarship. It was true the Emma was going to Winslow, but this did not mean she had to cut ties with Emma. Her dad was a slave-driver and made sure she did exceptionally well in middle school. He was also adamant regarding the education he wanted her to have and talked her into going for Arcadia rather than Winslow. No offense to Emma but the rumours about Winslow did not fill her with confidence at all. She was afraid that she might decide that Winslow was suitable place to hit the gangs by massacring all their potential recruits.

Taylor got off the kitchen chair and stretched her body as far as she could satisfied with the pops emanating from all over body. The only change in expression the showed her satisfaction was the light exhale she made.

She went over to the living room grabbed the home phone and dialled Emma's number. a few rings later Emma picked up. She sounded like she had the phone on speaker. "Hello Emma. Are you free to meet up today? I need to tell you something important." said Taylor forcing herself to sound calmer than she really was. After all, it was only her heart that was almost beating out of her chest with worry about how her friend will react to her gaining powers, and to the nature of her powers specifically.

Emma paused slightly on the line, not used to Taylor sounding this calm since her mother died. Her friend always looked like she forced herself to talk whenever they met. She was a wreck. Gone was the free willed innocent chatterbox that talked on and on about anything and everything. In Emma's eyes there was only the broken husk of what used to be Taylor Hebert. Nothing but _weak broken prey._ A quick glance at her new friend Sofia Hess, and she was sure again of her decision that she was sure of her choice, "I'm sorry Taylor, but I can't meet up with you today." Emma replied in the same sweet voice that Taylor hadn't heard since March.

"You free tomorrow then?" Taylor asked with the same forced calmness. Her gut was telling her something was off with her friendbut she carried on anyway, "I think I need to tell you something. About why I haven't been around much the last two years and mostly since March."

Emma was honestly curious, and so was Sofia by the looks of it, but most importantly she wanted to fix Taylor who broke when her mother died. Taylor who Emma thought was so devastated she shut down, closed off on herself and ignored everything else besides her misery. So, Emma decided to get Taylor to her house so she could see how stronger she was than her. That unlike Taylor who broke down and crumbled like the prey she was, Emma fought and was acknowledged as a _survivor_ by her real friend Sofia. Her real friend, the Ward Shadow Stalker. The Hero Shadow Stalker. _Her _hero Shadow Stalker. She wanted to show Sofia her broken friend because she knew that Sofia would know how to fix her friend. Show her how the real-world works. Sofia grinned placing her hand on Emma's shoulder and nodded. Emma returned the grin with hopeful smile of her own and said, "You know what Taylor. You can come over now if you want. Come over to my house."

Taylor's eyes narrowed as she felt something off with how Emma changed her mind so fast. But she decided to keep it at the back of her head and said, "Sure thing Emma. I'll be there in 15."

Author Note:-

On the Brockton Bay Cape Scene: the cape scene in the Bay is tense. Even though I pushed the Canon timeline start from 2011 to 2013, it does not mean that the characters were stagnated. Armsmaster for example is explained in the chapter. But generally, all Protectorate and Ward members will by default have more experience. Dinah still triggers in 2011 but is more successful in evading Coil. The Undersiders are working for Coil for 2+ years by 2013 and do not mind escalating when necessary. (Regent for example is 'unofficially' known to be Hijack). Taylor have not been keeping up with the cape scene so far in the Bay, so she does not understand fully that the Dockworkers' Union is mainly untouched thus far because all its member are unpowered. The times that the gangs sent any capes to intimidate the Union ended with the Union members pulling out guns, since they are not protected by the Unwritten Rules. The Protectorate and the PRT are trying to maintain the status quo because outside the Union, conflict between the gangs just keeps escalating, but no one is willing to cross the line and start killing other people. So, whenever the Protectorate and the PRT discover a new parahuman on the streets they try to get them as soon as possible to postpone an all-out gang war.

On Shadow Stalker: in this AU Shadow Stalker took things too far way earlier than in canon; meaning that she is by this time a Brockton Bay Probationary Ward. She ended up killing a couple of Empire Eighty-Eight gangbangers and the Protectorate got to her before the Empire could make an example out of her. The only reason she was given the Probationary Membership is because she was a highly effective and lethal combatant, and the Empire getting their hands on her may have been the fuse to start the gang war. Kaiser executes the sub-human and Lung retaliates to show the minorities living in his territory that even though he's murderer, slaver, rage dragon; their position within his territory is better than being dead. The Merchants spread chaos and try to get what they can because they're the Merchants. Coil plots and takes advantage of the situation with his mercenaries. This is what the Protectorate and the PRT are afraid of happening because it means that blood will run down the streets.

On Emma Barnes: the ABB assault she went through happened between March and July 2010. Unlike in Canon where she wants to get rid of everything she saw as weakness, she wants to try and 'fix' her friend through the help of what she sees as a professional. Her intentions may be pure but its Shadow Stalker we're dealing with.

On Shift: Shift should be the last set of chapters with some time skips before heading into AU canon timeline proper.


	4. Chapter 4

Shift 1.2

Sophia watched Emma pacing around the living room of her house. The girl was obviously nervous, but Sophia was confident that whoever Emma's friend was, and no matter how broken she is that she'll be able to fix her. To enlighten her on how the real-world works. She was halfway there already, broken through the death of what was without a doubt a major pillar of her life; gone a victim to the city's gang power struggle and the Protectorate and PRT's useless efforts to maintain a sinking ship. She would have loved to keep going on her hunts at night but she's not willing to risk the few things in life she have truly come to love in this miserable world. She knew full well that the PRT and Protectorate are watching her like a hawk since she was inducted into the Wards. Afterall, she did kill some gang members, and everyone knew how dangerous she was and how useful she can be when using her powers to their limits. So Sophia, to her glee, whenever she felt her temper getting the best of her would request more patrols which her bosses allowed her on when she informed them of how she felt her _rage_, the need for _violence _bubbling within her. It was well known that capes tended to seek conflict, she just had what all other capes did but in a purer form.

Whenever she talked with Miss Militia on her world view and how she was trying to utilize her aggression to clean up the city back in her vigilante day and how she was trying to use her aggression in more acceptable ways; Miss Militia tried to tell her how the world did not revolve on predators and preys. Miss Militia told her how that if there were predators and prey then there were hunters to kill the predators. Miss Militia told her that she can direct her aggression at helping people instead of simply fighting like she and the other members do. Sophia could smell the bullshit from a mile away. The helping people thing was something she could get behind in her own ways because at the end of the day she truly believed that even with Miss Militia's talk about hunters hunting predators, it was the natural order of things for a larger predator to be around. She knew that she wasn't the toughest predator around, and there were _monsters_ outside the scope like the Endbringers; but did Miss Militia really think that she was naïve?

No matter how much Miss Militia and the PR department tried to hide it. No matter how easily the rest of the Wards were deceived; she wouldn't. Because when Sophia looked in Miss Militia's eyes whenever she was getting ready for patrol or when fighting villains; she recognised those eyes. Not the eyes of a simple _predator_, not even those of a _hunter_, but the eyes of a _killer_. Because unlike most capes that were impulsively throwing themselves into fights thanks to their powers, Miss Militia become rational and calm to the extreme. She had, without a doubt, kill a man without a flinch. Like it was just another Tuesday for her. She may kill because of how patriotic the woman was, the fact that she acted more like a soldier than a cape was not missed on her and Sophia knew that the woman will kill again if ordered to. Sophia did not know what it happened to make Miss Militia practically warship the US, but she knew that she became a symbol of a patriotism, and knew that if the woman had such passion for her country it was likely that she indeed was as caring as she seemed to be when dealing with the Wards. Hearing out what she said and benefitting from her experience could not be all that bad.

The outer gate buzzer ringing interrupted her thoughts. She saw Emma freeze glancing at her. She gave her an encouraging nod and stood up from where she sat and walked towards the door. Emma opened the outer gate door after checking it was indeed Taylor through the intercom. Sophia watched Emma take a deep breath to calm down, nodded to herself then walked to open the door after giving Sophia another look. Sophia hanged a bit to the back and saw Emma open the house door and freeze. Sophia's brows furrowed and wrapped her arms around herself. She was in shorts and a T-shirt but that was only because the house was heated inside. A cold breeze of air drifted through and Sophia heard Taylor's voice. as calm as it was on the phone speak "Hello Emma. I've been looking forward to seeing you. It's been too long."

Emma took a moment to reply and stuttered out "Y-yes Taylor. It's been ages you know. I missed you."

Sophia's was confused. This was not the plan. The plan was for Emma to push Taylor's buttons for a bit to show her how week she was. For Sophia to show up right after and slam the point in and make it as clear as possible that Taylor was a broken mess and that the only way for Sophia and Emma to accept her as friends was for her to abandon her weakness. Cut it out of her life like they both did.

Taylor and Emma hugged then Taylor moved into the house heading for the living room that had the comfy couches and the huge TV that Taylor remembered watching movies on with Emma on their sleepovers.

Right as Taylor entered the room everything was as she remembered. A relatively big square room with long couches aligning the room forming a U-Shape to the left of the door leading into the living room, all the way to the opposite side of the room. The huge TV was to her right with a mini-fridge next to it and a cupboard next to that with bags of chips, chocolate and other snacks. Then between the U-couches and the TV was a table with three bowls of fruit; two fruit knives per bowl in case they had any guests.

Sophia was standing between the table and the TV when Taylor entered the room. She saw the girl scanning the room nostalgically before she was finally noticed. What Sophia saw was not what she expected. Taylor was tall. Taller than Sophia was. She was wearing what looked like high-quality clothes. Knee-high black leather boots, skin-tight black pants that showed her feet up to right under her knees. That was because her body was covered with wide, buttoned up white trench coat with white belt that looked to be a part of the coat looped around her waist. _'I need to ask were she got that coat from. I'd die for a black colored version.' _ Sophia spotted a portion of Taylor's black, skin-tight turtle-neck shirt from showing from over the coat extending up her neck. Her skin was pale, she had short hair ending just below her chin. Sophia remembered that Emma knew of Taylor's newer hairstyles but seeing it again after so long must have sent her over to PTSD lands since Emma was still learning to adapt to her new understanding of the world. Taylor's mouth slightly too wide but set in a neutral expression that made reading her difficult. Her eyes were brown that turned duller the further from the pupil her iris was. The edges of her irises were so dull they looked grey nothing like Emma told her.

Sophia was trying to spot where the broken shell Emma spoke of. She decided it didn't matter and was about to walk over to introduce herself but then she felt a shiver run down her spine. Cold sweat drenching her back. Her heart pounding in her chest. Adrenaline rushing through her system. Her body and instincts telling her its time. _Predator or prey? Which will you be this time?_ She thought to herself like she always did before engaging unknown enemies. Her power almost activated on instinct to hide her anywhere unseen where it would be most advantageous for her.

The moment that she locked eyes with Taylor, Taylor's eyes narrowed, glazed over as if lost in thought. But Sophia knew that Taylor was not looking at her anymore, she was now _looking at her_. Like Armsmaster and Kid Win _looked_ at their tech. Deconstruction to create something new. Break-down. Rework. Build-up. Create. Sophia refused to be the next work of some rogue Bio-Tinker. She refused to be the introduction of the second Bonesaw. Or Blasto. Or whoever the hell other Bio-Tinker was out there. She felt in her very being the need for _violence_ rising. She will _survive _like she always has.

Sophia gulped feeling how dry her throat was. but still, Sophia forced herself to focus almost immediately. She was tenser than she liked but she had to blame the Wards' Three Fears. She joined the Wards a couple of days after saving Emma, but during her training she was taught about the Wards' Three Fears.

The First Fear was fear of her leaders. Armsmaster's orders were to be followed to the letter. He was a scary man because you never knew what he thought. Not to mention that he caught her on her first outing as a cape after taking things too far. If Armsmaster was scary then Director Piggot was downright horrifying. Because even Armsmaster was scared of her, for she was basically their God at work. She held everyone's leashes. Apparently when Armsmaster pissed her off one too many times in the past she cut down his tinkering budget into oblivion and he had learned his lesson since. She was the only reason Sophia was not rotting in jail right now, and she can ship her out to the deepest hole in the ground she knew, if Sophia even breathed suspiciously.

The Second Fear was fear of the S-Class threats. They didn't have to tell her twice about that, she did participate in the last Behemoth attack a couple of months back and can still see his one massive eye staring through her from the distance as tens of capes dropped dead around for simply being too close. To S-Class threats there was no predator, prey, or hunter. The majority of those going against Endbringers were looked at as not even insects. They died simply with by the grace of that the Endbringer decided to be present. And when the capes died the Endbringers were the same as usual efficient, indifferent, destroyers. they just looked indifferent. Humanity's plight and sorrow, the destruction they bring upon mean nothing to them as long as they accomplish their objective during the attack. No matter what they chose to target during their attacks, the result was always the same, humanity losing major parts of their infrastructure, setting them back years. Human S-Class threats were _things_ she would hopefully never encounter. The worst of humanity working to destroy humanity itself.

The Third Fear however, was more of an unofficial one that all who joined the Wards were told about all the same. _Unknown Tinkers._ Nothing could be as dangerous as an unknown tinker. Tinkers were generally taken in by the Protectorate or inducted in gangs early into their careers, but those who lucked out or were skilled enough to progress their power under the radar; those were the dangerous one. It all came to a matter of time. The more time a Tinker had, the more dangerous they were. But Bio-Tinkers were even more dangerous than just regular tinkers because everything boiled down to one question. How far was this guy willing to go to exercise his power?

And now lo and behold, Sophia Hess was looking at what she was 90% sure was a Bio-Tinker. A section of one of the Three Fears. She never hated the progress she made through the Wards' program more than ever. Because even though this girl was a potential threat that can kill one of her closest friends, all she could think about was Piggot yelling over and over again _"We repeat again! Unknown Tinkers are dangerous! If you encounter one immediately report and try to approach with as little hostility as you can! Buy time for the Protectorate heroes to come! Armsmaster would be your best bet but if the unknown proves to be hostile just get your ass out of there and don't report to console, just send a distress signal and focus on running!"_

That's all they wanted didn't they? For her to run! But what about Emma?! She can't leave her with this psycho! Additionally!

_**SHE WAS A PREDATOR! NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY THREATENED HER IF SHE SLIPPED AND LOST CONTROL THEY WOULD KNOW SHE DID THE RIGHT THING BECAUSE A FUCKING MONSTER WAS STANDING IN FRONT OF HER! WAITING FOR HER TO DROP HER GUARD SO THAT IT CAN TAKE HER! SHE WILL NO LONGER RESTRAIN HERSELF! SHE WILL END THIS MONSTER NO MATTER WHAT!**__**EVEN IF PIGGOT WOULD FLIP HER SHIT; EVEN IF SHE WERE TO BE BIRDCAGED, SHE WOULD DO WHAT WAS NECESSARY TO ENSURE THAT THE MONSTER THAT EYED HER LIKE A FRESH PIECE OF STEAK READY FOR THE TAKING WAS DEALT WITH. SHE KILLED BEFORE AND WAS WILLING TO DO IT AGAIN IF IT MEANT RIDDING THE WORLD OF THAT **__**THING!**_

Sophia moved easily to the table and picked up an apple and a fruit knife. Sophia saw the thing was still lost in its own head. Sophia he started cutting the apple in her hand. She noticed the thing blink in rapid succession, its eyes as owlish as ever. But the thing started walking towards her, the neutral unreadable look turning into one curiosity, and slight hope as the smallest of upward tilts of her lips for but a fraction of a second that Sophia would have missed if she wasn't watching the monster like a hawk. Sophia was raging! A part of her wanting to exterminate the thing before it would take her, her friend, and others outside after it left. **'CURIOUS ABOUT HOW I'LL LOOK LIKE AFTER YOU'RE DONE WITH ME ARE YOU!? HOPEFUL I'LL BE DECEIVED! DECEIVED INTO BELIEVING YOU WERE HUMAN YES!? DECEIVED INTO BECOMING EASY PREY FOR YOU TO PLAY AROUND WITH!? HOPEFUL I'LL BE A SUCCESS LIKE THE OTHERS YOU TRIED TO MESS WITH ARE YOU!?'**

While she was raging on the inside, a small part of her was thinking that she needed to calm down and get out of here to call for backup to deal with the monster. Afterall, the thing was a monster and monsters were best dealt with in numbers, Her phone was upstairs in Emma's room and she wouldn't be able to get it.

Alas, the monster was closing in towards her, it stopped in front of her and extended its hand. Sophia knew the bastard was going to attack the moment the hand started extending. So Sophia decided to take the opportunity from it. Her left hand held the knife in a reverse grip and as quick and as possibly as she could; Sophia whipped her arm slashing the thing at the throat. It choked from the strength of the blow, eyes widened in shock at the failure of its plans to take Sophia's body. The thing stumbled back a bit holding to its neck; lowered its arm and Sophia saw that there was no line of red carved through the monster's throat. There was also no more hope or curiosity; just simply pure indifference. Those _eyes _reminded her of Behemoth's _eye_. Yes! The monster shows it true nature! Sophia returns the monster's stare with a growl. The monster's brows furrow slightly then it dashes. 'A mover rating huh?'

Sophia thinks as she phases into her shadow form passing through the punch that would have cracked some of her ribs for sure. She continued floating in her shadow form in position as the monster's right side passed through her. The monster was not expecting the phasing but was not as surprised as Sophia would have like. It overextended slightly getting of balance. Sophia started to place phased knife into the monster's back; aiming to have it materialize as soon as she backs away. But as soon as the monster's other foot touched the ground, the monster dashed forward staying away from her, rotating to face at high speed. Its legs stand one in front of the others looked at her with its arms up preparing to attack Sophia as it eyed her with recognition. Emma was now standing at the door to the living room. Sophia placed herself between the monster and Emma. She would protect her Emma. The monster took quick glances between her and Emma; then vanished.

All Sophia knew was that white burning pain of the electricity coursing through her. She crumbled on her knees shaking in agony. The monster looked unbothered, looking down at her. Same indifferent eyes. She knew she was going to die today, but she would meet the monsters eyes as it killed her. Sophia raised her head weakly looking into the monster's eyes. 'It was beautiful. White like an angel of death. Its eyes showing that it was simply doing its job. That it was nothing personal.'

Sophia saw the monster raise its stun rod cracking the voltage to the max. it slammed it at the side of her neck right above her left shoulder.

Sophia's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell forward. Her face slammed on the floor. She'll surely be out for a while.

Taylor took a deep breath and turned her focus to Emma who was still frozen in shock at what had just happened.

"…Emma" Taylor called out. Emma felt a shiver go down her spine as Taylor stared her down. Her voice emotionless, "I believe you have some explaining to do."

Emma nodded shakily. "I-I-It's g-gonna be a long talk. L-let's go to my room."

Emma started walking to her room. Taylor followed behind her dragging the unconscious Shadow Stalker behind her by the hair.

AN:-

An AU take on Sophia Hess. But the pressure keeps building with her.

On Shadow Stalker's confrontation. Why do you think she was weaker than she had any right to be in this fight? There was a reason as to why I made this fight go overwhelmingly in Taylor's favour, that is referenced in the chapter.

This is the first fight scene I ever wrote and I have been currently up for 23-ish hours. Had a long day today… If you have criticisms and tips please do leave me some to see how I can improve 😊

I didn't have much time to edit the chapter. If you find any errors that you would like me to fix please do tell.


	5. Chapter 5

Shift 1.3

July 12, 2010

The air was heavy in Emma's room. Taylor sat on Emma's desk chair facing the huge bed where Sophia was laying on her back. Emma was sitting on the edge of the bed squirming under Taylor's eyes. She could feel them boring into her. Seeing through her. Taylor just kept staring, not uttering a sound, and the silence was starting to get to Emma. So, she broke. "T-taylor…" Emma stuttered. "I-I need you to hear me on things f-first before saying anything."

Emma lifted her head and looked at Taylor, growing more anxious as Taylor's expression remained flat, her eyes dead just staring at her. "Y-you're my best friend T-taylor. Y-you know I love you, and I just couldn't bear watching you closing in on yourself. I haven't seen you since March and you've been so quiet and down since A-Aunt Annette died and I tried everything I could to help you but you just kept getting quieter and quieter and then you stopped calling and I just wanted to help."

Taylor crossed her right leg over her left, her hands rested one over the other on her knee. Her back ramrod straight, her expression unchanging. "I appreciate that you wanted to help me deal with whatever you though I have. However, I do not know how your friend Shadow Stalker here has anything to do with your help. Because, if by helping, you meant trying to slash my neck open with your fruit knife, that is exactly what she did." Emma's mouth widened in horror and her face was draining of color.

"B-but she wasn't supposed-"

"Then what was she supposed to do Emma?" Taylor cut in not allowing Emma to finish, her irritation starting to show.

"T-taylor… she was supposed to help you like she helped me!" Emma exclaimed standing up, her lips quivering, tears gathering in her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked, her voice harder than before. Emma flinched. Biting on her lips she started pacing around. "Emma" Taylor called again making Emma stop, in her tracks. "Sit", Emma flinched again at the tone and sat once more. "I will ask you again. What do you mean by 'help me like she helped you?"

Emma bit kept biting on her lips, thinking of ways to dodge the question, trying to buy herself some time. "Speak." Taylor commanded her again.

But this time she could not help but talk, "I-I asked Sophia to try and help show you how the real-world works." She looked at Taylor and saw her waiting for a continuation. "_I_ wanted you to see and understand how the world really is like Taylor. This world is made up of predators and prey", she spoke with a manic look starting to appear in her eyes. "Everyone will go through a time of their life where they will be tested by the world. Where they will lose something important to them. Where they face the ugly reality of the world whether through sheer ridiculous accident or by experiencing the worst available by encountering _disgusting, vile people_. But by the end of it you will get a choice. To be consumed by the pain? To be crushed by the world? To crumble into nothing more than weak _prey _waiting for death? Even better dead than alive? Or to fight and _survive_? To become a _survivor_, and maybe, if you become strong enough become a _predator_." Emma's head angled down, not looking at Taylor, her face twisting in an expression of great sorrow, tears started flowing down her face. Before she continued, "A-and T-taylor… it pains me seeing you like this. Y-you've been so quiet since A-aunt Annette, and then you were just gone since March. I don't even know what highschool you're going to. We don't even have sleepovers anymore. And-and-and-and…" Emma descended into sobbing as she was overwhelmed by her emotions.

But then Emma felt a hand on her shoulder. She raised her head and saw Taylor was crouching in front of her. Emma saw Taylor's eyes filled with love and care. Taylor's placed her hands on Emma's cheeks and wiped her tears with her thumbs. Taylor couldn't help but think that even when Emma was a mess like she was now, she was one of the rare beautiful criers. Taylor stood up as she held Emma's hands and pulled her in for a hug. Taylor's chin rested atop Emma's head as her left arm wrapped around Emma's shoulders. Her right arm went through Emma's red hair going from roots to tips, trying to calm her down. It was shorter than she remembered it being, only reaching her shoulders; but Emma relaxed in Taylor's arms as she used to do when they were younger.

"Taylor…" Emma murmured making Taylor hum questioningly. "Y-you are my best friend… you were my only real friend growing up until I met Sophia. I… I don't want to lose you. Please… just…"

Emma felt Taylor shift and pull herself slightly from the hug. Taylor placed a finger on Emma's lips shushing her. "I know." Taylor said. "But before we talk about any of that, there is something that I want to know. How did you meet Shadow Stalker? How did it come to her telling you about her world views and you readily accepting them? Because I know you Emma; and the Emma I know would not have accepted anything like that at face value." Emma stiffened in Taylor's arms and Taylor knew that something happened that changed Emma into believing Sophia's worldview as fact. Something big to Emma at least.

"Tell me Emma. What happened?" Taylor asked as she pulled Emma back into the hug when started shivering.

"I-I met Sophia around the start of April. It's been some time since I last heard from you and you wouldn't answer the house phone or you cell phone. Dad and I were in the car going back home, but we had to go through ABB territory." Emma shuddered. Gulped feeling her mouth go dry. Taylor gave her a reassuring squeeze and waited for Emma to continue.

"S-so we were going through ABB territory; one of those alleys that you know you shouldn't drive through but had to in order to get home faster. Until we got boxed in the alley by two van and 5 ABB members. Two big guys held dad down and said they kill him, and three ganged up on me. They said they'll take me to their _farms_." Emma spat the last word through gritted teeth. "B-but then they said I was too beautiful for their _farms_." Emma continued her shakes intensifying. "So, they said they make me suitable for their farms. They cut off almost all my hair. The longest strand I had reached my chin. Then they mocked me; said I looked better now, but that they couldn't have me look too good. So they said they'd allow me to choose what they take from me. 'One eye, the nose, mouth or both ears?'" Emma was pale as a sheet, she was heavily relying on Taylor supporting her body.

"Then Shadow Stalker saved you when you tried fighting back to get away." Taylor continued for Emma feeling her nod her head. "And she told you how she saw the world like. How it was for her; because it was the same for you, you believe her to be true, then wanting to help me get over mother's death you thought that I would be inclined to believe in this world view and that we can all be friends." Emma nodded again.

Taylor held Emma's chin and raised her head making her look at her. Taylor gave Emma a warm soft smile. "Emma, it brings joy to my heart that you want to help me feel better. But-"

"But nothing! Get away from Emma you _monster_!" Sophia interrupted as she woke up. She wanted to take Emma and leave. To get to Protectorate HQ and report on the existence of this monster here and watch every Protectorate cape and PRT trooper collapse on her like a tidal wave and have her dealt with. She couldn't move much in the bed. She felt so tired, so angry.

"You've chosen to wake up now have you Shadow Stalker." The softness in Taylor's voice and eyes disappeared; replaced with steel. Sophia shivered under the blankets and Emma couldn't help but feel a spike of irritation at her Sophia's actions.

"Sophia! Why did you attack Taylor? I told you that she's my friend and that I wanted you to help me help her!"

"You don't understand Emma! You said she was broken, that she was prey that surrendered to her fate and was nothing but a broken husk of what she was! But she isn't what you said she was Emma! She not only a cape, but she's a Bio-Tinker; a _monster_!"

Taylor just kept staring at Sophia. Emma was shocked out of her mind and simply whispered out, "What?"

"Personally, would love to hear how you reached to the conclusion that I am not only a cape, but a Bio-Tinker at that?" Said Taylor with a hint of curiosity, drawing both girls' attentions to herself.

Sophia growled at Taylor in rage for remembering what happened before she passed out. "It's because of the way you looked at me!" Sophia hissed. "Like Armsmaster and Kid Win look at their tech! Or at the material they have. And if you looked at me like that when it was the first time you fucking see me, I don't even want to think about what you've done to others. But if you think for a second that you get to walk away freely from here today you've got another thing coming for you."

Sophia took her backpack was lying right next to Sophia's side of the bed on the floor. She quickly reached for it and started emptying the damned thing searching for her phones. "If you're looking for your cell phones they're with me. just thought I let you know in case you were looking for them." Sophia froze when she heard Taylor say she had her phones.

"Hand my phones over right now! Having a Wards phone without their explicit consent can be seen as an attempt to compromise a Ward's civilian identity. You'll be locked up for a lot of fucking years if you don't hand me my cell phones now!"

"Compromise a Ward's civilian identity? Do you mean like you did when using your powers right after trying to slit my throat?" Taylor asked a soft smile on her face with no mirth in her voice and a look that could kill directed towards Sophia.

Taylor's smile vanished as soon as it appeared, her eyes gained a gleam of bloodlust that Sophia recognised in some capes she encountered like Hookwolf of the Empire. "Let me tell you something Sophia. Remind you of a fact that you keep forgetting or are simply too oblivious to notice. You are in no position to be making any demands. The very fact that you are alive and well right now is a mercy I showed on the assumption that you were Emma's friend. You claim that I am Bio-Tinker cape, a monster; and even when you believe that the world revolve around predators and prey, fully knowing how dangerous a monster can be if they choose to be, you still test my patience and try establishing yourself as a dominant party. The mercy of allowing you to continue to draw breath not only after what've been doing now, but also after trying to kill me earlier is the second mercy I show you today. I will show one final mercy now by enlightening you on some things I know and we will be discussing some things I noticed, then I will give some choices and you _will_ choose a path to take. And if you try anything out with me right now," her hand blurred into the insides of her coat and held the stun rod to her side, allowing the ominous sound of electricity to play for a few seconds "you will deeply regret it. Am I clear?"

Emma was standing a bit to the side watching Taylor and Sophia talk, and she was to be honest with herself; she was scared of what her old friend was capable of doing now. She was also never gladder for her parents and sister being outside the house than this moment, because this day was a complete mess that was never ending.

Sophia on the other hand was downright shivering under the covers, her hands gripping the sheets in fists with knuckles turning white from the pressure. She couldn't handle the situation she was in right now. She felt a severe lack of control, and she hated not being in some for of control over herself. But she had no choice in the matter and she knew it. She was too tired, too weak to try anything.

"C-crystal clear."

Taylor nodded sharply and kept her eyes on Sophia as if studying her, "You are right. I am a Bio-Tinker with powers that mainly utilize on using humans as materials." Taylor broke the silence with this bombshell. Emma's eyes widened in shock and Sophia let an involuntary whimper after the monster itself confirmed to being one. "This was the reason I came here today actually. To let Emma know that I was away because I was dealing with matters related to my power over the last two years; and since March more intensely. However, even though I do have a power, I am not a cape." The room was silent, as Taylor paused allowing the two girls to process what she said.

Sophia decided to test the waters, "But what about your clothes? Your turtleneck shirt protected you when we fought earlier today."

Taylor made a hum of agreement, "It is exactly because of my clothes that I say that I am not a cape. I do not care for men and women running around in costumes playing cops and robbers on a greater scale with greater consequences. I were these clothes because they are my everyday clothes at this point, and I want to be protected at all times. You know how Brockton Bay gets, even going to Emma's house has turned to a confrontation that I would have surely died at if not for my armour."

Emma raised her hand at the side wanting to ask a question. Taylor nodded at her. "What do you mean by not caring about costumed people playing cops and robbers? I don't get what cops and robbers has anything to do with capes."

"It has everything to do with capes. Don't you notice how no matter how much the villains do the Protectorate and PRT never do anything to put a more permanent stop to the villains. The worst they do is sentence villains to the Birdcage. Some might say that heroes don't kill villains because they're heroes and heroes never kill; but that is far from the truth. It's simply because it's part of the cape community's unwritten rules. A set of guidelines that all heroes and villains follow. One of the main rules is that they try avoiding intentionally killing each other, and they keep the use of guns among their goons to a minimum because all capes understand that excluding some Brutes and Shakers; almost all capes will die when they get shot. Rape and sexual assault", Emma flinched at the mention of her possible fate, "are frowned upon but you have guys like Lung with his many brothels, and forcibly recruited sex slaves. That's why I call it nothing more than a game. Because that's all it really is. What really matters to the Heroes is that the villains join in the Endbringer fights. The more numbers they have the better chances there are of repelling the attack."

Emma was shocked at this discovery. She looked over to Sophia to see her input on the matter but was shocked further when she nodded in agreement with Taylor. "You see, I am not a cape nor do I have any interest in being one because if I were to go out and fight I will not be limiting myself. My power is best used with lethal intent and that is how I will use them. All villains that come after me will do so with the intent to kill and I plan to reciprocate their wonderful intents with my own. This is why I say that I am not a cape, because if I were to go out you would hear nothing of me because everyone that knows would be dead, or I would be on local news at a minimum because of the corpses I'll leave in my wake."

Sophia felt a bead of sweat going down her brow knowing how a close a bullet she dodged with this one. But before she could think more on the subject Taylor continued. "I also have no intention of being a cape because I still have my dad. He'd be worried sick if were to go out at night looking for fights to pick, and I don't want to end up dying in some back alley and leave him alone. All that we have left is each other, so the main reason I use my powers is to make sure he stay safe, even though all he agrees to wear from what I made was the white trench coat. He's also the reason I carry the stun rod with me" she twirled the stun rod a few times before hiding it again inside her coat. "He wanted me to have a non-lethal option just to be safe."

The atmosphere started becoming less tense when she mentioned her unwillingness to fight out on the streets because she knew that she was going to be lethal in her use of powers and was willing to leave it to the heroes for now at least. But then the atmosphere tensed right back u when Taylor started talking again. "Sophia, Shadow Stalker. Do you know what I see when I look at you?" she asked. "I see a broken husk of a person. A weak-willed girl that was broken by the world and decided that the world was this simplistic jungle to justify her actions. To justify the violence and anger consuming her. To justify that all these people that are too weak to fight for themselves, to protect themselves, too weak to survive in our cruel world, our _delightful city_; have completely justifiable deaths. That they brough it onto themselves by not fighting back against their aggressors. Even if their aggressors were to completely outmatch them. Even if their tormentors were _monsters_ in human skin."

Sophia grit her teeth and spat out, "I am not weak! I am strong! I survived what the world threw at me and grew into a predator."

Taylor kept looking at her impassively, "Oh? Then let me ask you this Sophia. You do know that powers want to be used correct? That they want to be used in conflict and that they tend to make capes more violent in nature correct?"

"Yes I do! What's your point?"

"My point is that your first reaction to thinking with no actual proof whatsoever that I was a Bio-Tinker was to try and slit my throat. It's either that the Protectorate and the PRT has no therapists for their Wards to see which is a requirement that the Youth Guard will exterminate them for breaking, or it simply means that whoever you're seeing is not doing a good enough job. So tell me Sophia, have you been through therapy after joining the Wards?" Taylor asked expecting the answer to be a resounding no.

However, she was surprised with Sophia lowering her head, looking at the bed sheets. "Yes. The Wards are required to speak with full time Protectorate capes to help manage their mental state. I got the better end of the stick seeing Miss Militia regarding my violent tendencies. My violent nature mainly came after getting my powers and they were what landed me in the Wards in the first place."

Taylor gave a hollow laugh at the idiocy of what she heard. "Of course, who else are the Wards expected to see other than the Protectorate capes. Because, who would be better to oversee a broken teenager's state of mind than a broken adult?"

"But it was working. I don't know what came over me when I saw you." Sophia complained.

"Let me guess. Did Miss Militia and whoever else you met with tell you that your aggression had to be minimized and contained to the best of your abilities." Sophia nodded. "That it was a major negative part that came with your power and that you need to remain as calm as you possibly can to help contain the outbursts." Sophia nodded again.

"The fools. All you've been doing is supressing your anger and violence and letting it fester and boil with time. You may have learned how to control your power's influence to some extent but its useless. Because you're trying to ignore it because they were telling you that its bad and that it has no beneficial use for a hero. Because heroes aren't killers, and the fastest way to kill someone is to be angry enough to kill without even meaning to." Taylor spoke condescendingly.

"But everyone forgot that this is Brockton Bay. The exception when it comes to cape society rather than the nation's standard. The Wards here got into fight with villains on regular basis unlike other cities and states across the US. Any unknown cape encounter was stressful due to the high ratio of villains infesting the city. Add the fact that you are used to operating alone considering your time as a vigilante makes you more paranoid than others because paranoia saves lives when operating alone. So, what happens when you keep repressing your nature by this point, and end up encountering an unknown you feel threatened by? You relapse and end up worse than when you started." Sophia was about to object when Taylor asked something that made her pause, "The only reason you're listening to me is because you know that I can, and am willing to kill you if you so much as breath wrong. But if you could kill me right now would you do it?"

Sophia's eyes widen slightly, then started chuckling, her chuckles turning to hysterical laughter. By the time she stopped she looked right in Taylor's eyes and grinned viciously, "I would make your death the bloodiest, longest, most painful death in history; and I would enjoy every second of it." Emma was shocked by Sophia's declaration because she knew of how her friend was trying to change to the better. But what shocked her more was Taylor, who was smiling not the soft smiles she's been seeing today, but the wide smile she used to always have on her face in their younger years; the smile that only a wide expressive mouth like hers can make.

"And this is why I pity you Sophia, Shadow Stalker. Your moves so predictable during the fight that you weren't even a challenge. The violent nature brought with your power was controlling and making you act on instinct. All the experience you had from your days as a vigilante and the Wards were useless. Because now you do not even own your powers; your powers _own you._" Sophia did not recognise the full implications of what Taylor just said. She did not realise that her powers have already done what would probably be irrecoverable damage to her personality as a whole; making her a more aggressive person than she already was. It was done by her powers the first time, there was no reason for it to happen again.

Taylor returned to her neutral expression again her eyes narrowing in focus, tone of voice dead serious, "Now then Sophia. Now comes the time for you to make a choice. You can either continue relying on the Protectorate and the PRT to help you deal with your issues. However, do keep in mind that they will end up finding out that you relapsed and that they will be dealing with you in this more violent, easily agitated state where you can so easily make a slip than will land you in deep shit." Sophia was about to interrupt talking about her self-control when it comes to violence, and how she would be able to repress it for later. But Taylor continued talking, but with her eyes gleaming with bloodlust again, "You can also try telling them about me, you can provide the information yourself, or have them interrogate it out of you; but when I learn that you ever tell anyone about me having powers, even if I have to climb every mountain and search every hole in ground to find you, I will do just that and then I will kill you."

Sophia stilled feeling her heart sinking through the stomach into the ground. "After all," Taylor continued, "if they ever find about me, I will be thrown under the spotlight of the wonderful cape scene of Brockton Bay. I would be forced to act; so difference does one more body make to the mountain I'll end up leaving in my wake."

Sophia felt a chill take over her body. "Your second option Sophia is to make a phone call with Miss Militia, since she is the one supervising your mental health and bullshit your way into getting a week off duty. Tell her that you're exhausted, that you've been pushing yourself too far with patrols, that you feel yourself getting burned out and that you might end up erasing some of the progress made with your mental health and that you fuck up in an unacceptable way on patrol if you don't rest well. Then call the Director Piggot and tell her the same and let her know that you told Miss Militia what you told her and inform her of what Miss Militia said. In that week of course you will not be resting, but you will be working with me on managing your violence and will be joining Emma and I to see my therapist." Taylor finished by placing her left hand into an inner pocket retrieving two cell phones; Sophia's civilian smart phone and the PRT issued tinkered phone.

Sophia was stuck between a rock and a hard place. It's either almost certain death or talking to Piggot. She wasn't sure what terrified her more. But her choice was already made. She extended her hand taking her phones. Seeing how the _monster_;Taylor would help should prove to be interesting. Either way she'll be able to learn her habits and how it ticks. She was a predator after all, and predators stalked their prey before going for the kill.

As Sophia was making the call, she heard Emma ask herself, "Wait, therapist? What therapist?"

AN:-

Bit of a longer chapter. Hope the emotions were portrayed well enough and let me know what you think on how I handled the Sophia situation. I felt that a predator like her would rather bid their time when dealing with stronger, more terrifying opponents they have no chance of beating at the moment.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer:-

Taylor gets in Sophia's head (not literally) in the name of helping.

Heavy themes including racism, slavery, and sex slavery incoming.

Unashamed to say title drop this chapter.

Shift 1.4

July 13, 2010, 9:00am

John Dawkins was not having a good day. He usually loved going to the Dockworkers' Union and checking on the state of the workers there. All of them good men and women forced to take matters into their own hands. Every single one of them willing to fight the gangs that dare to try and influence their safe haven, their second home, their Union. All of them, as some tragically have, willing to die to make sure that what they love to do; what they essentially hope to do with the revitalization of the docks of Brockton Bay remains pure and sacred outside the reach of the gangs. He loved meeting these men and women that were not only willing to die, but also willing to kill those that threaten the safety of heir worlds and lives, their homes and their families. They are men and women that killed to prove a point; that as long as the gangs keep trying to interfere with them, as long as they try to spread their corruption further into the city they call their home, they can expect nothing less than lethal retaliation against the lethal force that the gang members of Brockton Bay exercise without any care in the world.

John Dawkins was excited to meet these men and women that treasured their families and friends, their home that was Brockton Bay; and was excited to see how he can be of help today. Then he realised that today was not a normal day, but a day reserved fully for the session he has scheduled with the Dockworkers' Union's little reaper. Almost everyone there knew about her by now, but they refused her help with providing anything she could tinker because that will change the Dockworkers' Union from a symbol to the citizens that the institute that still fought for freedom of their homes was fully made of normal humans into a pseudo gang with cape support.

Taylor had personally called him and asked him to rework his schedule to fit two extra hours for two guests she will be bringing along with her. They will all be present for this extended session and all will get to talk to him because Taylor wanted them to relax and take to his presence with her around at first. Try to show them that it was not a bad thing to ask for help from an actual professional when they were struggling to deal with life. That simply talking about what's happening with you whether that be in the real world, in your day to day life, or simply in your thoughts no matter how dark or twisted they were was nothing to be ashamed of. He believed it to be his duty to help people relax with themselves and feel safe inside their own heads. No matter whether they were human or parahuman; hero or villain, they all deserved to experience the necessary peace that came with mental stability and self-assurance.

It was true that some of his clients have reached their stability and wholeheartedly cemented their beliefs in unsavoury acts of life. Some turned out as high ranking nazis in the Empire. Some were normal thugs that were forced or had willingly joined the many gangs of the Bay. Some of them sought to gain a sense of control in their lives. Others simply gained their own twisted peace; seeking the fulfilment attained through achieving a form power. This tended to be most easily achieved within the gangs were power dynamics were clear-cut, hierarchical in some cases. John Dawkins tried talking them around, to try achieving their goals and ideals in a manner that will leave their prints on society in a more beneficial manner, but John Dawkins didn't really care what his patients ended up doing as long as they had _conviction_ behind their actions. He loved doing good, he loved it when his patients ended up doing good with their lives, but this world was a fucked-up place. It was rare for the normal brand of good being advertised by the PRT to change the world, after all, the most essential aspect to change things is that actions need to be taken. Unfortunately, actions made with the intent of stabilising the powder keg that is Brockton Bay is not enough to cause change.

That was why Dawkins loved working with Taylor. At first, she was just this horrible mess. A broken little girl that had not only lost her mother but had her vision of what a hero is broken all within the span of a few days. That, he told her was why she triggered, possibly the reason that she had this power that placed as much space between he and the PRT. He didn't know. No one really knew what determined what power a person got besides it being as what would be a direct fix to a problem without it actually fixing the root causes of the issue. But a man can theorize and what was someone like him without his theories. But what Dawkins looked forward to most everyday was what Taylor like calling 'the other shoe' to drop. She would give the PRT and the Protectorate their chance, but she believed with every fibre of her being that they will fuck up big time again; that she will be forced to make her move. It was inevitable that Taylor will go out into the cape scene, but it was only a question of when and on what terms. Will she be prepared enough? Will she go believing in the PRT or will she flip the cape scene in Brockton Bay over its head and bring about unprecedented change.

John Dawkins believed that Taylor will bring change, because even when she didn't realise it, she was creating waves that if were to be noticed by the PRT would might end in a shitstorm. The PRT would do everything they can to keep the matter of one of their Wards seeking help outside the PRT behind their backs, because they did not provide sufficient mental health care in their local branch. If it came to be known that this help was a result of their Ward relapsing into an over induced hyper-aggressive state that resulted in them almost killing someone based on what could only amount to a hunch… well that would be bad for everyone.

John Dawkins didn't really care about what pressure plays the Protectorate and the PRT will play when they find out that Shadow Stalker was seeing _him_ in particular considering the fact that he does not differentiate between villains and heroes; whether they were part of a team or an independent, unlike his old friend Jessica Yamada. Well, it wasn't that she didn't see villains, she just saw the ones the PRT was present for because she wasn't as suicidal as he was. He heard she signed something with them regarding having session with their Wards, and with rehabilitating villains they had in custody and the like. The main difference was that she had some people to watch her back during sessions just in case. He on the other hand only had his self-defence classes and his trusty Glock. That was it. Face to face with the villains and madmen he went.

These things didn't really matter at the moment though. Because John Dawkins was doing last minute preparations for the session with Taylor, Shadow Stalker, and who she told him was her old friend Emma Barnes. No matter how much her tried to calm himself he couldn't. He was excited! Who in his field wouldn't be excited to try and tackle mental states directly influenced by powers? It was not only the fact that Shadow Stalker's personality was shifting, but the fact that Taylor told him that her power had sent her some schematics of a crossbows that had sections directly connected to the blood stream that could shoot blood arrows that were not meant to pierce. What intrigued them both is the fact that even though the weapon could be crafted out of Shadow Stalker's entire body and brain like ANNETTE was made; the SHADOW BLOOD repeating crossbow was best created to be a part of Shadow Stalker herself. The weapon would have the resting form of an arm that could shift at the end into a crossbow that would shoots blood arrows directly extracted from the bloodstream. Now add the fact that the arrows could phase into shadow and materialise _inside _whoever you're shooting and that was a horrifying concept to think about. A weapon proposed by her power that was not intended for her to use. A weapon that needed Taylor's RC cells to be integrated into Sophia herself. She refused to think on the matter for now before knowing the full implications of introducing RC cells to anyone else.

John and Taylor believed, from studying how Taylor's power interacted with her and how it influenced her thinking, that powers might be sentient with personalities and desires of their own. The fact was that her power first insisted on Taylor crafting her mother into a weapon, resulting in a possible second trigger leading to Taylor gaining more "access to her powers". Her power then kept the tinkering to a minimum, only focusing on what mattered at the moment and the tinkering fully stopped after Taylor crafted her armour and realised her approaching death sentence. Then the second she sees Shadow Stalker, her power creates a weapon that would be better suited for Shadow Stalker than her, as if her power was telling her that this girl would make a suitable ally.

Then on the other hand of the spectrum there was Shadow Stalker that had been supressing what possibly be a fundamental part of her power to the extent that her power was retaliating by trying to twist her, send her on the road of early demise. He's seen plenty of capes in his time and knew that powers became an intrinsic part of the person, so he theorized that having a healthy symbiotic relation with your power would be the key to a happy cape life. This all depended on the hypothesis that powers were indeed sentient and all that jazz being true. The conclusions he reached with Taylor and the other data he collected from previous cape clients aided with the hypothesis. But again, what was a man in his position without his theories and hypothesis? A man could dream can he not?

John heard someone knocking at the door of the office he used at the Dockworkers' Union. He took a deep breath and released slowly. 'Show time' he thought before getting up and walking towards the door. As he walked he thought about how he would deal with the two newcomers. He could deal with Emma alone, but Taylor proposed forcing Sophia Hess – he had to remind himself to keep calling her by her real name – into a healthy relationship with her power, where he would talk to her and handle her psyche followed by Taylor forcing the girl into the same uncontrollable rage and promise of violence that always bubbled under her skin. Force her into controlling it. Turning it from a boiling uncontrollable need for violence that hampered her use of everything she learned in her experience as a cape, into a controlled calculated _cold_ _intent _to hurt, maim, kill; because Sophia embracing the darker aspects of her power and having the option to choose when to kill would boost her efficiency and her threat level massively. Add having a full week of sparring with Taylor, who had already mastered the hand-to-hand combat techniques taught by her powers and by the instructors she got in contact with through the union, and Sophia Hess is on her way of becoming a very dangerous cape.

John Dawkins opened the door and saw the expected people that he will be talking to for the next three hours. "Hey Doc Dawk." He didn't grimace at the nickname Taylor gave him as their session continued. He got used to it since Taylor wouldn't stop using it. "You ready?" Taylor asked with a soft smile on her face. He knew she was really asking him on his preparations for the plan.

John returned her smile, "Of course. I've been waiting for you."

John Dawkins really was having a bad day. He thought that helping Sophia on the house because her case was a personal interest of his would make his day better. But now he was pale, sweating bullets, swearing on every god around that he wouldn't even think of what he talks to Sophia about outside their sessions, after Sophia made it clear that she would not only phase needles into his very bones, but would phase trash that she would personally collect from merchant territory into his very flesh. John almost swore when he saw Taylor's lips twitching at the side, supressing what he believed to be an amused smile considering the similarities between what was happening now with Sophia, and how Taylor had threatened him in a similar fashion the first day they met.

"Ms. Hess" John spoke. "I will tell you what I told Taylor the first day we met, after she threatened me in a similar manner to what you did right now."

Sophia and Emma gave a quick glance towards Taylor that managed to supress her amusement and maintain a neutral expression that showed nothing.

"Ms. Hess a very major part of why I am still alive today when working as a freelancing therapist that opens a clinic where his feet find him is the fact that I take doctor patient confidentiality very seriously." His face and tone of voice was the definition of serious. Sophia focused and listened to everything the man was saying because no matter how uncomfortable she was to see a shrink; she knew that she needed to see one.

"The only reason I am alive after helping capes and non-capes from all different parts of society is because I built a solid reputation on brutal honesty and confidentiality that even when I was previously questioned by the police, Protectorate and PRT on some of my patients and the actions that they took in life, I always leave the talking to my lawyer. The only reason Ms. Hess that you can come here without hearing a word from your bosses is because they don't know that I'm in the Bay because instead of opening a temporary clinic like I always do, I chose to operate out of the Dockworkers' Union considering they made up the majority of my patients in Brockton. As for patients that are not part of the Dockworkers' Union in Brockton Bay? Well I just go see them in a private place of their choosing. The only reason that Taylor and Emma are here right now is because Taylor recommended all three of you be present for the first couple of sessions to relax in this new environment and see how things go. As a matter of fact, Taylor volunteered to have her session be done first so that you and Emma can ease up today and see how things operate. It would be quite unfortunate if you lash out against me if I end up asking something that may trigger a reaction from you considering how your power was altering your personality." Sophia lowered her head into her hands and massaged her temple trying to easy the frustration of having her cape identity known by someone outside the norm.

She grumbled knowing full well she got herself here and that trusting the bastard couldn't be that bad considering he was the one helping that _monster _Taylor deal with her own mess. She needed the help and knew that what the Protectorate and the PRT were providing was not sufficient so she nodded her head. "Fine. I'll try trusting you for a couple of sessions and see how things go. You better be as good as you made yourself out to be."

"I dealt with the little reaper on her worst days. Just give it a chance and you'll feel better than ever." Sophia could hear the pride behind his word when he mentioned dealing with this 'little reaper' and she was curious now.

But before she could ask Emma interjected, "Little reaper?"

John gave the smile of the cat that ate the canary and Taylor groaned. "Ohoho! I'm glad you asked! This! Is the little reaper!" he answered dramatically while pointing at Taylor. "The little reaper because she used to ask for any gangbanger corpses left after any encounters between the gangs and the Union. The Union members that new about her abilities would joke around that she would reap the gang members' souls with her gaze and their bodies with her power." Taylor groaned again on talk of reaping bodies and how close it sounded to one of society's taboos. Not like taking corpses and using them as material to improve her armour wasn't taboo or anything like that. But still!

Sophia grinned looking at Taylor and spoke simultaneously with Emma, "So you been 'reaping bodies' huh?" Emma and Sophia looked at each other and erupted in laughter with Doc Dawk while Taylor groaned louder.

….

That marked the start of the first session. Three hours later the girls went to the Union's cafeteria for a quick bite to eat and then Emma had to go home, so Taylor and Sophia went to a secluded area of the Union's main building and entered a matted room that must have been a massive meeting room in the past.

Sophia had her costume on with twin dagger strapped to her waist and her twin crossbows on her lower back under her black hooded cloak, since Taylor requested she bring her gear from her days as a vigilante. She didn't plan to use the crossbows because she only had lethal bolts from her days back a vigilante that Taylor practically threatened her into bringing with her. After she got in costume and Taylor was still in that armour that didn't look like an armour that she wore everywhere, the farce that was called a spar started. They sent hours inside the room with Sophia trying everything she could to touch Taylor while Taylor simply dodged everything she threw at her. But what made it worse was the expression Taylor had on her face. An expression that radiated pure boredom. Apathy of the highest order. As if whatever Sophia could do meant nothing to Taylor. It was then Sophia reminded herself of how much of a _monster_ Taylor was. It took a special kind of monster to have eyes that would remind someone of an Endbringer from the amount of apathy and unconcern they radiated. Sophia felt herself getting more frustrated, more angry, more violent, the longer this went. Ten minutes of Taylor silently dodging, not breaking a sweat, were testing Sophia's patience.

Then the monster had to open its mouth and speak words that made Sophia pause. A right hook was backstepped by Taylor.

"_Pathetic"_

Her voice rang in the room. Sophia paused, the word spoken conversationally still being processed in her head.

She felt a vein bulge in her neck. Her eyes glinting dangerously. "What did you say?" she hissed at Taylor.

"_Pathetic"_

The word rang again.

Sophia screamed in uncontrollable rage and went on the attack. Jabs, hooks, kicks, knees, attempts to grapple, even using her power to try and get the drop on the girl that dared call her _pathetic _were all useless.

But what angered Sophia further was that Taylor was not silent anymore now.

"_Pathetic"_

"_Useless"_

"_Worthless"_

"_Weak"_

"STAND STILL DAMN IT!" Sophia would yell, sweating buckets, panting as the minutes dragged to an hour.

"Is this all you amount to predator?" Taylor would ask, sarcasm dripping at the word predator.

"I guess it's to be expected. A predator is nothing but a beast after all, but you make predators ashamed by calling yourself one." Taylor spoke conversationally as Sophia grit her teeth. "All you do is attack blindly. Your moves are more predators are animals but you moves are even more predictable than an animal's."

Sophia would be consumed with greater rage, imagining getting her hands on Taylor to rip her to shreds.

"Worthless. If this is all you amount to I wonder how you even killed these empire goons in the first place. It's no wonder Armsmaster captured you so easily. If you encounter any Empire capes I do wonder how fast you'll die. They hold a grudge against you so they'll try to make you're death long and painful to serve as a lesson for any other minorities." Taylor was still apathetic as she spoke. Sophia doubled her efforts again still refusing to use her crossbows,

"You do not need to worry about your family Sophia." Taylor spoke again. "I heard that the Empire sometimes goes after a cape's family after the cape is dealt with to make sure they were not harmed." Sophia was processing the words.

"There is no need to worry. Even though they discriminate with minorities I bet that there are several members that don't really care about skin color if the girl is young enough or beautiful enough." Sophia stopped suddenly. Froze in the spot, her eyes widening in outrage. A promise of pain and suffering at the tip of her tongue. "The men and boys tend to be killed though." Taylor added as if talking about the weather.

"_Tell me Sophia? Do you have a mother? A sister or a brother perhaps? Your brother's days are numbered. He's dead for sure but your sister? Is she young enough? I heard there were some high-ranking Empire members that do love them young. And there is no need to worry about your mother, even if she was past her prime, I heard that the normal goons are provided with 'entertainment' and they don't really care about skin color there. Who knows, they may use her as a breeder, expendables are in demand you know?"_

Sophia screamed in uncontrollable rage. She had never wanted to kill someone more than today. She killed wanted to kill the Empire that did that against the minorities of her city, but more than even the Empire, she wanted Taylor -no- the _monster in human skin_ dead. Everything in her vision was out of focus and she was moving on pure instinct and muscle memory. Faster than ever before she drew both her crossbows and fired what would have been a headshot. But Taylor swayed to the right avoiding the bolts.

"You're blind too huh. Not unexpected considering how you killed those Empire goons back then." Sophia had already reloaded and shot another two bolts that Taylor dodged by twisting to the left. She seemed unbothered, her arms still at her side, breathing even, not even a drop of sweat on her forehead. The fight continued with Sophia adding her crossbow into the mix, then pulling twin daggers after running out of bolts. Her rage kept building and she kept going after the _monster in human skin_ trying to end the one that dared ridicule her and talk about her family. Her punches were sloppier than usual, the strikes she delivered with her daggers weren't as sharp or precise as usual.

Two hours after the start of the sparring session Sophia's vision snapped back into focus noticed that she couldn't move anymore. She stood rooted in place, her limbs shaking uncontrollably as she pushed her body further than ever before. Taylor stood in front of her the same apathetic, neutral expression as the one from the start. She just stared at Sophia before opening her mouth,

"_It's futile. Nothing you do or try will ever work."_

Sophia was about to protest before Taylor continued,

"_Didn't you notice? I didn't attack you once in the past two hours."_

Sophia's eyes widened in shock. She remembered, not once did Taylor attack. All she did was dodge.

'_She could have attacked anytime'_

'_She could have finished this anytime'_

'_She could have killed me anytime'_

"_I hope you prove to be more of a challenge tomorrow."_

The monster started moving forward. White coat shuffling with the movement

"_The way you are right now will only lead to your ruin, and the death of everything and everyone you love."_

The monster was standing in front of her and all she could do was stare.

"_Tell me Sophia. Do you own your powers? Or do your powers own you?"_

The monster extended an arm, hand opening like a vice ready to clamp her head. She couldn't help but stare at the monster's eyes and drown in them. The dull brown that turned a dull grey at the edges of the iris. With the proximity she noticed a few white hairs peaking through the black curls.

She couldn't help but remember what Dawkins called what stood before her, "Little Reaper" _'she would reap their souls with her gaze and their bodies with her power.'_

'Little Reaper? No… a big one… full-fledged…' her mind wandered to the white it wore, the white that peaked though its hair and the grey of it eyes.

'White…Reaper'

'Yes… a suitable name… for a monster'

The hand clamped on her face and that was all it took for her to fall unconscious.

AN:-

Sorry for the slightly late release. Been sick the past couple of days.

Gonna start work tomorrow so I think chapters starting the next set may be shorter than Shift

One more chapter in Shift.

Please let me know what you think of this chapter. Didn't get the chance to read over it much, and the flow or the pacing of the chapter and the way it reads may be slightly weird.


	7. Chapter 7

AN –

Been a bit busy IRL past couple of days.

Shift 1.5

July 12, 2010

_-Right after Sophia's call with Director Piggot and Miss Militia-_

Director Piggot was a heavy-set woman that was sickly pale. She was in almost constant pain and was pretty much a dying woman considering the state of her kidney and her refusal to get any form of parahuman healing to deal with her injuries. Director Piggot ended the call she had with Shadow Stalker and sent for Armsmaster and Miss Militia to come to her office and discuss Sophia's actions. She was confused. Sophia was the type of girl that loved fighting. The solution to her predicament regarding dealing with her violent tendencies was to release some steam through more patrols. It wasn't as effective as it was previously but that was the best Sophia could get since the ultimate goal was to have her violent nature suppressed and kept under strict control so that she doesn't end up killing anyone else again. The world's gone down the shitter. It was now a part of her daily life to keep strict watch on a fifteen year that could go through walls to make sure she doesn't snap and kill people because she was irreversibly broken during her trigger event; what would amount to the absolute worst day of her life.

Director Piggot didn't notice when Armsmaster and Miss Militia entered one after the other. She had her hand on her temple trying to thin of how Sophia Hess ever decided that getting a week off the Wards to try and relax would help. They already tried benching her when she got too bad but that only exasperated the problem. Was she really getting burnt out from too much patrols?

The sound of Armsmaster clearing his throat broke her out of her thoughts. "Did you need something director?" Armsmaster asked bluntly. He hated wasting time, so chose to be as straight to the point as he could in all his social interactions. Well, the social support program he's been working on with Dragon to help him deal with his social ineptitude was on the backburner considering he's been focused more on his nano-thorn project to help deal actual damage to the Endbringers. His combat predictive software helped keep him alive and that was why he focused on that bit first before his nano-thorns. Speaking of his nano-thorns, if he managed to increase the rate of the blade's vibration by boosting the power source while keeping the power source's size to the absolute minimum; he'd get a _full 10%_ boost in damage if he wires the thing properly because that was the main issue in the first place. The way the wires connected the thing was the problem, he thought going for the shortest wires was necessary to save space, but he realised that this halberd was an supposed to act as an anti-Endbringer weapon to some extent, so he could do without half the things he usually had in there. No need for the net dispenser, but the grappling hook had to stay. That was something he had to do _now._

Armsmaster felt Miss Militia nudging his side with her elbow and he cleared his throat. "Sorry about that." He murmured. He put the idea he had in the bac of his mind so that he could work on it as soon as he was free.

"It's fine" Director Piggot replied. "Well. I called for you now because I just hung up with Shadow Stalker. She asked for a week off duty because she felt herself getting burnt out on patrols and console duty." Armsmaster furrowed his brows behind his visor. "She also told me that the burn out was getting her frustrated and making it difficult for her to keep her violence in check. She injured someone that needed Panacea's intervention on her last patrol and she thought that if she doesn't get some time off she might end up killing someone by the end of it. Can you tell me why I find this extremely odd coming from Stalker Armsmaster?"

"Shadow Stalker is the type to try and fix the majority of her issues by going out on more patrols considering the way she needs to feel she's cleaning up the city. That is something that is an intrinsic part of her nature. Something that I doubt she even realises she has. If Stalker was ever getting burnt-out, I think she'll throw herself into more patrols because that is all she knows when it comes to dealing with her anger."

"Partially true." Miss Militia interjected. "I've noticed that Sophia was becoming more self-aware when it comes to her issues but deciding to take a break is not something I see her doing. She called me to let me know that she wanted to call you Director. The way she explained it was that she felt that she was nearing the edge and will likely kill someone if she went on patrol again. I suggested she stay on console duty and that we meet up a few more times this week to see how to deal with the issue. Sophia, disagreed and said that she wanted to try taking some space away from her life as a cape."

Director Piggot narrowed her eyes. This did not match Sophia's character at all. She was aware that her power was messing with her head, but she was the type to go on unsanctioned patrols before deciding to take a break. Her power has already affected her by the time she was inducted into the Wards. Even with the progress she had made so far, her relationship with some of the Wards like Missy Biron (Vista) and Dean Stanfield (Gallant) was still stressed. She was always trying to get a reaction out of Missy Vista whether by shoulder checking her or by mentioning Vista's age or home life. Considering that Vista's trigger event was related to her home life and the fact that she saw herself more as Vista than as Missy, she was easily irritated when underestimated due to her age. Sophia also refused any help Gallant might provide because 'he acted like she was prey and she was a predator and she would rather die than talk to someone that treated her like they were treating Vista; like a china doll that would break at a touch.' Someone like Sophia wouldn't choose to take a break, she would normally go for more patrols or fewer ones in more dangerous territory.

"But I do not think she's lying when she says she needs some space." Miss Militia continued.

"How so?" Armsmaster asked.

"I don't think she's lying. But I think she's not telling the full truth. There's something else she's not saying." Miss Militia elaborated.

"I hate not knowing what troublemakers like Sophia are doing when they're not under my watch. So we need to know what she's hiding. Armsmaster. Do you think you can find where Sophia is without relying on the trackers in her phones?" asked Piggot.

"Of course." Armsmaster said with a hint of pride coloring his words. "I installed a micro tracker in her arm after I subdued her before she got in the Wards. Didn't really have the time to remove it and it just slipped my mind with the other projects on my table."

Piggot's eye twitched, "You do know that you need to tell me when you go on doing things that can land the PRT in shit with the public. At least I'll be prepared."

Armsmaster grunted in annoyance, "It won't land the PRT anywhere because Shadow Staler was a dangerous unhinged vigilante that had to be monitored unlike the rest of the Wards or other probationary Wards. It was a necessary part of her rehabilitation where the tracker will be removed as a show of trust from the PRT and as a sign that Shadow Stalker is a cape that we were able to help bring their heroic nature to surface and successfully reform her from a vigilante into a hero to aid us in our war against the villains."

Director Piggot closed her eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Fine. I want to know where she goes and what she does. If she goes on a single unsanctioned patrol, we throw the book at her and she goes straight to juvie. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and allow her to get her week off. But the second this starts to smell fishy I want her in a cell on the Rig." Armsmaster nodded. "Miss Militia, I would like you to notify the rest of the Wards about Sophia's week off and reschedule their patrols for the week. Dismissed."

"Yes Ma'am." Miss Militia saluted before exiting the room with Armsmaster.

Armsmaster returned to his lab while Miss Militia went to the common room were the Wards were gathered. She caught in between shifts were Vista and Clockblocker were about to head out for patrol after Kid Win and Aegis returned from theirs.

She pressed the buzzer on the door to the area and waited the 30 seconds until the red light turned green to allow her into the room after the Wards had some time to prepare for a visitor. She could just go in, but as the one placed in charge of the Wards, she liked giving them time to collect themselves and be prepared for her. Miss Militia went in the room and saw the Wards (Aegis (Carlos), Clockblocker (Dennis), Kid Win (Chris), Vista (Missy), and Gallant (Dean)) standing in attention waiting for her to come in.

"I won't take much of your time today. I just wanted to let you know that Shadow Stalker is on leave for the next week. She'll be back on the 20th. We will be rescheduling your patrols and turns on console duty to make sure that Shadow Stalker's absence is accordingly covered for the duration of the week." Miss Militia stated. Being straight to the point in this matter would be for the best. They couldn't really risk being caught off guard or disorganized with the loss of one of their more effective Wards.

"Thank God…" Vista sighed, her voice sounding nothing less than satisfied.

"That's not very nice Missy." Said Gallant.

"Has the sun risen from the West today?" asked Clockblocker.

"Not you too." Complained Gallant. "She's not that bad you guys."

Vista and Clockblocker snorted. "You don't know what you're talking about… _prey._" taunted Clockblocker.

"If you saw her emotions like I could, you would see that she's trying more than it looks like." Aegis gave him a sympathetic smile and Gallant sighed, resigned that Clockblocker and Vista will not change their minds easily on the matter. The conflicted emotions that Shadow Stalker had when dealing with him was one of the reasons that he continued trying to help her. He knew she wanted help, knew that she was trying to act nicely to the rest of the team, but sometimes her best simply wasn't enough.

"Well," Miss Militia continued, "just try giving her a chance when she gets back. For now Clockblocker and Vista, I believe you have a patrol to go on with Kid Win sitting on Console duty. Off you go."

"Off we go then." Replied Clockblocker heading out with Vista. "See ya around Miss Militia."

July 13, 2010

_-Evening-_

"Anything to report on Sophia Armsmaster?" asked Piggot when he invited himself to her office.

"She spent the whole day at the Dockworkers' Union." Armsmaster replied without missing a beat.

Director Piggot felt exhausted. "The Union? What the hell is she doing in the Dockworkers' Union?"

"No idea. But I recommend that we keep watch on her actions. You think that the Union is trying to recruit Sophia into their ranks?" Replied Armsmaster.

"No. It is highly unlikely that she revealed her cape identity and even if she did, the only reason the Dockworkers' Union is still up and running is because they are made up of unpowered normal humans. The very second the gangs smell a cape in the Union, Kaiser himself might end up accompanying his capes to massacre everyone in the Union. Just keep reporting where she goes."

Armsmaster grunted in agreement and left the office.

July 19, 2010

"It's been seven days and the only places she's been to are what? The Dockworkers' Union, the boardwalk, and Daniel Hebert's house?" asked Piggot.

"The Barnes' as well."

"That doesn't explain much." Said Piggot

"You know I have my visor linked to the street cameras around the Bay, so I checked them for anything I could find, and it seems Sophia made a new friend. Taylor Hebert, daughter of Daniel Hebert, head of hiring of the Dockworkers' Union and unofficial leader of the Dockworkers' Union. You know the guy as much as I do, I doubt Stalker told him her identity and even if he knew, he wouldn't risk making the Dockworkers' Union look like a gang by having a cape work for them." Armsmaster elaborated on his findings.

"True." Piggot agreed, "He's the only reason the Union is alive at a time with Leviathan around and I doubt he'd risk his life's work over a cape. Either way, I think we might be acting a bit paranoid here. I decided to give Sophia the benefit of the doubt with this and I think she wouldn't disappoint. Plus, with someone like her managing to make a friend, things might turn for the better with her situation. But the real question is Collin… since when do you keep up with the politics of the Bay?"

Armsmaster frowned, "I don't. I may be socially inept, but I need to be prepared in case anything pops up in the city. The Dockworkers' Union is the closest thing to a gang with no capes considering all their members are armed in case any of the gangs try to force them into obedience. Even though the ABB haven't really bothered with them after the Empire tried their luck, the gang's are always watching the Union, and I believe that I need to be prepared in case the Union starts recruiting if they end up feeling too pressured ."

Piggot grunted "Good work Armsmaster. Feel free to go back to your tinkering. I've got dialysis in 15 minutes."

Armsmaster left without a word.

…..

July 20, 2010

Sophia was on her way back to PRT HQ for the first time in a week. She was honestly excited to see the rest of the Wards. She had dealt with her issues and was excited to test herself on patrol and during the spar sessions she had with the test of the Wards. Aegis was the one that gave her the most trouble most of the time, but after having to deal with Taylor over the week she was confident she'll be able to kick ass.

It's been a week since she met Taylor. It's been a week since she started going to Doctor Dawkins before her 'spars' with Taylor. For the majority of the week, she had honestly despised the girl. Sophia hated her with such a passion that she was going after her with intent to kill in their spars. But all the Taylor did was dodge. Five days of pure dodging. Five days of Sophia's frustrations, rage, and need for blood growing. It had grown to a point where she sent every second of the day plotting for how to kill the bane of her existence. Someone that was even worse than Grue; and Grue was her nemesis damn it. It was then, in this focus, where instead of leaving her rage to fester indiscriminately; she directed it at Taylor. Her every move was calculated, not directed by her emotions. It was done with purpose. Instead of simply letting her emotions get the better of her and make her act on instinct like she did most of the time, her every move was calculated. She took a page out of Taylor's book and tried to keep her moves to a minimum. She relied on her experience. Added feints and her own touch to the Brazilian Jujitsu she was proficient in. That was on the fifth day. The day that Taylor started blocking instead of simply dodging. Throwing a simple counter every now and then.

By the sixth day Taylor had Emma record their fight on her phone. It was also the day she started actively attacking instead of waiting for Sophia to tire herself out. The moment that Taylor was attacking, Sophia felt the pressure, she knew that Taylor had an advantage presented by her power making it easier for her to learn how to fight and read her opponent's moves, but the fights ramped up in difficulty for her even though Taylor wasn't even breaking a sweat. This pressure helped her focus. Helped her point her violence at a clear target. Find a direction. A _purpose_. All that mattered was her opponent and how she was going to get rid of them.

On the seventh day she was able to control her need for violence. It now acted like it was connected to a switch. When she wanted to fight, she'd turn on the switch and according to Doctor Dawkins, she gained an air that put his body into fight or flight. This aura that seemed to intensify when in her Shadow form. Further tests showed that this effect was only present when she was seen, keeping her the advantage in ambush situations and giving her an edge in fights taking place in the open. Even though Taylor never went all out on her, Sophia could barely keep up. She would dodge, block or try and counter at the very last second. This only became easier the longer they fought. Her newfound ability to separate the emotions brought by her power completely and utilizing them when she found it necessarily made things easier as it seemed to have sharpened her combat instincts. She was now the owner of her power than the one owned by it. She accepted her powers fully, using everything it provided as effectively as she could, and her power seemed to cooperate with her and work better than ever before.

Sophia stopped her thoughts on the past week as she went through one of the hidden doors at the side of the building. She went through security, went to the Ward's locker room, donned her costume and went off to her the Director's office to report her return. She went to the elevator, pressed the button to the top floor and off she went.

Sophia was waiting outside Piggot's office. The secretary went in to let Piggot know of Sophia's arrival. A full fifteen minutes later the secretary re-emerged, "The Director is ready to see you now." Sophia nodded and went into Piggot's office.

What surprised her truly was the fact that she wasn't in a homicidal mood at the moment. The fifteen-minute wait would normally having her shaking with rage for being left to wait since Piggot loved playing these mind games with her; to see how she was progressing in terms of her self-control.

Piggot was still as she remembered. Sickly pale, overweight, and in pain with every breath she took.

"Shadow Stalker. How've you been?" Piggot face was in its constant frown that seemed to disapprove her mere existence.

"Good" Sophia replied not missing a beat. "I had sufficient time to relax and had an enlightening encounter that helped me immensely with my issues."

Piggot raised an eyebrow at the working. "Enlightening encounter?"

Shadow Stalker nodded. She raised her arm up and removed her mask after undoing the clasps.

"I made a new friend." Elaborated Sophia with a smile.

"And how was making a new friend enlightening?" Piggot asked again confused at why Stalker would take her mask off.

"This new friend is a mutual I met through Emma; the girl whose dad negotiated the terms of my probation. The thing is. I may have outed myself to her and told her about my issues." Piggot scowled, about to tell her of how much shit she just landed herself with the NDA's she's going to have the Heberts sign.

"She helped with my issues. She talked to me about things and had me see her therapist for a few sessions." Sophia elaborated.

"But what clenched it was a question she asked. A question that helped me reach an equilibrium that keeps all the mind-altering aspects of my powers under my strict control. She kept asking me if I was the one owning my powers or if my powers were the one owning me. Who was really in control? I took it to mean if I was still Sophia or if was Shadow Stalker was the only one left? Was I losing myself to my power's influence? I kept thinking in that direction and instead of trying to supress the violence and rage, I embraced it. Accepted it as an aspect of my power."

Piggot was getting annoyed with the direction this talk was going and as she was about to express her annoyance Sophia said something that made her rethink how they were dealing with their Wards and the powers they had.

"The therapist she had me see mentioned seeing some capes previously. He said that powers may have a partial sentience, a will of their own. That they acted like passengers sticking around with the cape on the ride that is life after triggering. But powers not only want to be used but have a preference in the way they are used. That if they weren't given what they want, they'll try to sabotage the cape by messing with how they work. Like how most of Leet's creations keep exploding. They'll try and get the cape killed so that they can figuratively get off the ride. And that was what my passenger was doing. I would have inevitably relapsed and potentially gone on a murder spree, putting myself in the worst possible situation. My powers love being used violently, so the moment I accepted that fact and resolved to find ways to satisfy my power, something clicked, and I was in control. My anger and bloodlust became a source of focus that I can activate with my power. All these emotions acted like a minor terror aura if I was to be seen using my power."

"Hit me with the aura." Piggot commanded. Sophia was trained not question her and she obliged. Her demeaner changed. Her eyes sharpened and she a had a dangerous air to her. The moment she changed into her shadow form the effect amplified. Piggot's heart rate was steady. She had seen greater terrors in her life, but she felt the change in Sophia. "Enough" she said and everything was back to normal.

Piggot felt more exhausted than she looked. "Report all this to Miss Militia and submit yourself for power testing, get Gallant with you to see your new ability interacts with his powers. Then go and see the rest of your team to organize the next patrol. Additionally… this therapist you saw, I want to know his name and where you met him. I want to try and get him to see the rest of the Wards."

"His name is John Dawkins and I met him at the Dockworkers' Union, but he said that he only saw me as a favour to my friend. He also said that one of his acquaintances was already signed with the PRT and that she was better at dealing with kids than he was. He said she'd be more than willing to check on the Wards. He gave me her contact info to pass to you." Sophia took out a folded piece of paper out of her pouch and passed it to Piggot.

"Jessica Yamada…" Piggot whispered to herself. If capes had hidden aspects of their powers that activated with specific conditions like Stalker's 'terror aura' as she called it, things were gonna get messy. Piggot knew at this moment that she would give quite literally anything for a chance to drink herself into oblivion after all of this.

"Thank you for the information Sophia. I'll be sure to try and get Jessica Yamada here as soon as I can. Don't forget to go tell Miss Militia and go for power testing. Now get out." Sophia excused herself as Piggot got lost in the horrifying possibility of Nilbog getting a boost in his powers if he fulfilled a requirement of some sort.

AN-

Don't know why really, but this chapter was a bitch to write. There was an AU take on Piggot and Armsmaster as well. Having Armsmaster be a bit self-aware of his issues and not have the self-awareness of a three-year-old is something I thought I want to have.

Dockworkers' Union being in this unofficial gang kind of state with Armsmaster and Piggot knowing about the existence of Danny was something I also thought I wanted to show. When you think about it, if Danny wasn't crippled emotionally after Annette's death, the support that he could have provided Taylor, would have been staggering. Especially when considering all the connections and favours that he accumulated while he was still fighting for the ferry and the resuscitation of the Docks for years.

Next set of chapters are to be under the title Temper. It's the high school arc set to start around September 2011, leading up to canon that is set to have Lung's fight against the Undersiders be in April 2013 than 2011. In the two extra years there will be changes made to the situation in Brockton Bay and there will be some canon divergence.

But before getting into the Temper chapters. Emma interlude incoming.


	8. Chapter 8

Interlude 1 – Emma

July 20, 2010

_Her ideology was not a lie._

Emma was on her way back from seeing Doctor Dawkins. He was a good Doctor. She knew he was. She knew that there was truth in what he said. How the ideology she adopted from Sophia might ruin her. How the world didn't really revolve around predators and prey. But she couldn't abandon that way of thinking. It was her tether to reality. She knew that she was fully relying on the predator prey way of thought to keep herself grounded. It was something that resonated with her. A way of life that applied perfectly to a world like Earth Bet. A world she was unfortunate enough to be born in. She was a survivor. Someone slightly higher than prey on the list. But she still had her ambitions to become a predator. That was the only way for her to live peacefully in a world like this. Emma would have loved to make this transition alongside her friend, her sister in all but blood Taylor.

_Her ideology was not a lie._

She thought she wanted to help Taylor with breaking from her shell. Pathetic. She didn't even realise that her friend didn't need her help. She didn't even realise that she was the one that needed her friend's help. However, Emma knew now that something was wrong with her. She understood that her way of thinking would bring her nothing but ruin in the future. Taylor had explained it to her. Doctor Dawkins had talked to her on the matter. Even Sophia was starting to change. They thought that she was coming around to seeing reality for what it was. They thought that she was abandoning her ideology. But what they failed to see was how much what Sophia taught resonated with Emma. How deeply rooted it was in her mind. How it was the foundation that she rebuilt herself upon. The damage that would happen to Emma's psyche if her new principles were doubted. Questioned. Squashed.

_Her ideology was not a lie._

And so, Emma was feeling the world crumbling around her. She loved Taylor and Sophia. She really did. But she couldn't help but feel a spike of hatred. She felt betrayed. Betrayed by Taylor for not being what she appeared to be. Betrayed by Sophia for showing her the truth of the world; just for her to shut her eyes, willingly blind herself to the reality around she lived in. All because she brought Taylor to Sophia. Now everything was crumbling around her. Her best friend had changed her saviour. Her best friend was trying to change her. Her best friend was an ignorant fool. Her saviour was an ignorant fool. That Doctor was an ignorant fool. They were all fools. But she had to keep up with them. Both her friends had powers. Sophia was a predator and Taylor could deal with her in seconds. They were both strong enough to live in this world as they wished. She wasn't. She wasn't strong enough. She was only a survivor. A survivor was better than prey but not all that different. Because a survivor only survived until the next encounter. The next encounter that was a matter of when than if in Brockton Bay.

_Her ideology was not a lie._

She had to become a predator. She had to catch up to the friends that she loved. She had to catch up to the friends that she hated. To the friends that betrayed her. To the ones that closed their eyes to the truth. She had to catch up to them. To open their eyes. She had to be strong enough to live in this world. She had to be strong enough to be a predator. She was sick and tired of being a survivor. She had to become a predator. She had to be a predator because she knew the world was crumbling around her. Because she did not want to be the one being protected by the friends, she loved… by the friends, she hated… by the friends, that betrayed her… by the friends, that thought she needed saving. It didn't matter whether she needed saving or not. If she had known that being saved by Sophia would have her in this spot right now, she would have rather died than be shown the truth. Ignorance is Bliss. Believe in the truth. Just to be told it was all a lie.

_Her ideology was not a lie._

If she knew that Taylor was what she was, she would never have asked Sophia to help open Taylor's eyes to the truth. But she didn't want Taylor to be weak. She didn't want Taylor to be broken. She _needed _her to be weak. _Needed _her to be broken. Because if she was broken and weak, it would be easier to show her the truth. To validate her beliefs by having someone like Taylor see the truth for what it was.

_Her ideology was lie._

But now. The world was crumbling. Her foundations were breaking. Because no matter what she did, she knew that Taylor was strong. That Taylor had not only managed to spit on everything she thought and believed in but had managed to make Sophia blind herself to the truth.

_Everything was a lie._

Emma knew that she wasn't even a survivor. She was nothing but prey. Even less than prey. She was an ant. Vermin too small and insignificant to care about. Too insignificant to notice. She would die and be nothing more than a statistic on some piece of paper. She will never catch up. She was abandoned. They loved her. But they didn't really care. They abandoned her. They broke her. And the world was crumbling around her. Everything was a lie.

.

.

.

.

.

Emma thought she saw something… _magnificent_… but she couldn't remember. She felt this compulsion to go look in the mirror. And so, she did.

A normal icy blue left eye she saw everyday of her life. _A blood red iris. Black sclera. Pulsing red veins extending from the corner of her right eye._

Emma felt overwhelming pleasure. She collapsed on the ground. Her knees weak. Legs shaking. She suppressed a moan. Her lips parted in a manic grin.

'_Yes… the eyes of a predator'_

.

.

.

.

"_Now… I can show them the truth."_

"_Now… I can show the world the truth."_

"_Now… I can prove my existence."_

AN-

So… that just happened. I planned for Emma to trigger but did not really have a power planned for her. I thought about it today and reached two possible routes:

Emma recovers with therapy, triggers with a mover power due to an obsession with keeping up with Taylor and Sophia.

Emma breaks down and triggers as Eto. (Goodluck Brockton Bay)

Chose the second option, and so another wrench is thrown into canon timeline.

Next chapter Temper 1.1 will start September 14, 2010, first day of high school with a quick Taylor pov on what happened with Emma at the start. The Temper chapter set should span from September 14, 2010 till around April 10-11, 2013.

Saw a comment asking not to follow canon timeline. I do not plan on following canon timeline step by step. What I have planned to keep from canon should be important for character building, but things will be very different. I will not say which of the main points of canon I'm keeping and which I'm switching but do keep in mind that this is an AU as well as an alt-power.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: –

Sorry for the delay. Was really busy with some IRL stuff since my last upload. Hope you enjoy.

Not sure if I fucked up Taylor's age but she should be 15 years old considering she was born in 1995.

Temper 1.1

September 2, 2010

It's been a busy couple of months for Taylor. The Barnes' were reported dead. Blood stains matched to Alan, Zoe, and Anne Barnes were found splattered everywhere in their living room around the end of July. Emma was declared missing and a potential suspect considering she was the only one whose blood was not found on the scene. The eery part of the case was the fact that no actual bodies were found, only the unnerving amount of blood decorating their living room. Carol Dallon; Barndish of New Wave, swore that she would find whoever killed who she considered not only a co-worker, but a friend, and had New Wave assist the police in the investigation as much as they could. The results of the investigation were not pleasing in the slightest as it was theorised that the crime involved a active use of parahuman ability due to evident defence mounted by the Barnes with who is thought to be Alan Barnes firing three shots before he died. The police were notified of the weapon firing by the Barnes' neighbours, but still took 12 minutes to arrives on scene after the first call was made.

Daniel Hebert was anguished at the death of his old friend. He was saddened and angered, but more than anything, he was worried. He was worried because of the emergence of a new villain team calling themselves the Undersiders. The group's first appearance in the city happened when they killed all Merchant capes, and half their unpowered forces, taking over their territory, replacing the Merchants as the third major gang in the city. Taylor would have loved to be the one to get rid of the bastards that killed her mother, but the Undersiders ended up getting rid of the filth before she was done with her preparations. The Undersiders was made of five capes. Grue, a darkness generator without much being known about his powers. Hellhound; real name Rachel Lindt. A murderer on the run since she was 12. She could grow her dogs into monsters the size of a van. It was rumoured that she hated the name Hellhound and referred to herself as Bitch. Tattletale; a high-level Thinker with nothing much known about her power. She liked to get into her opponents' heads and would say she was a psychic. Regent; who surprisingly made no effort to conceal the fact that he was the body snatcher Jean-Paul Vasil, formerly known as Hijack, one of Heartbreaker's children. He made no effort to conceal that fact with him blatantly Mastering Menja of the Empire and having her fight her own teammates when they tried moving on the Undersiders' new territory.

Their final member was a female cape covered in bandages wearing a red one-piece tattered dress with a hood attached at the back. This bandaged cape; the leader of the Undersiders, called herself Owl and was the main reason for Danny's worries. She could create organic tendrils from her back and was observed eating the remains of those she killed when taking over the Merchant territory. The PRT not slamming her with a kill order was baffling to him. But what stressed him out the most was that Taylor told him that this bandaged girl had a high probability of being Emma. Sweet innocent Emma that he saw as a daughter. Emma that was so close to Taylor that she was her sister in all blood. The fact that Emma turned into a cannibal overnight sent shivers down his spine. The fact she knew about Taylor being a cape terrified him. and the fact that Taylor's source of power, her passenger, as she referred to it, helped in identifying Emma's tendrils to have the same cells she did, making Emma's body a material that would create an insanely effective weapon similar to ANNETTE, if not better, made him understand how dangerous she can be.

So, with the appearance of the Undersiders, Daniel agreed to lift Taylor's ban on Tinkering. This had Taylor going back into intense tinkering sessions. Considering the proximity of the current Undersiders' territory to the Dockworker's Union, Taylor ended up moving her lab from a room in the Union, to the unused basement level of the Union. She now practically lives there and managed to unpgrade her armour and improve its defences. She also managed to tinker the SCORPION 1/56, B rank, Bikaku type throwing knife set that she concealed within a layer she added to the outside of her trench coat. These would be her go to weapons if she encounters any problems while in her civilian identity. Taylor also tinkered another main weapon to use with ANNETTE, if she ended up having to rely on her main weapons that is, or without ANNETTE if she felt like hiding her full abilities. This weapon was a set of three individual quinque with tapered blades like a sword. They are an A rank Koukaku type quinque she named SNOW 1/3 due to the unnatural snow-white color of the sword. They were originally a B rank, but their upgrade process was way easier than ANNETTE. She wanted to give her father at least one of them, but he refused considering he would never be able to use it properly, and expressed his trust in firearms, especially with him being with the Dockworkers' Union; meaning he had to stick to "human" means of defence to avoid any unnecessary confusion when it comes to people wondering if the Union recruited a cape or was receiving backing from an independent cape.

Her body became stronger as more RC cells were being produced with her increased Tinkering rate raising her Brute rating to a 3 if she were to go with the PRT classifications, and an additional Thinker 0 or 1 due to her elevated brain functions with her communications with her passenger not being taken into account. She knew that when reaching her peak, she'll get to a Brute 4, Thinker 3 rating with a pseudo combat precognition ability due to enhanced combat flow reading capabilities as a maximum in terms of physical and mental enhancements. This makes it necessary to tinker weapons that would compliment her high agility combat style perfectly. Therefore, Taylor intensified her training sessions with Sophia, and had Taylor using the SCORPION and SNOW during their spars, while Sophia used her crossbows in order for them to keep each other in top condition since Emma was running around eating hundreds of Merchants, gaining more strength with every passing day. The increased RC cell production accelerated her aging. By now, a quarter of her hair had turned white and her eyesight degraded slightly with her eye color turning more and more into a dull grey. What was intriguing to her about her power was that even though the increased RC Cell production increased the rate at which she aged, making it so that she will reach her peak and start growing weaker with time, the connection she had with passenger would keep increasing reaching a peak when Taylor aging progresses to a point that has her left with a month left to live. This meant that at the price of headaches, she could somewhat communicate directly with her passenger and not have to predict the meaning of what her passenger was telling her though the schematics it whispered into her mind. Taylor and her passenger both knew that Taylor didn't want to use her powers. To fight. To kill. But she knew that it was an inevitability considering how her powers worked and she vowed to push herself to the limits and be as prepared as possible for when she would start to publicly act.

She had to be prepared. Especially today. It was the first day of school and she was going to Arcadia were the majority of the Wards studied. Sophia did not tell her their names, but she did make it clear that Taylor would recognise them when she saw them. She said that they all had an exhausted look in their eyes. They were feeling the waves created with the rise of the Undersiders and what the Owl was doing was pushing them into despair. The Youth Guard was trying every trick they had to get the Wards out of the Wards' program and Piggot authorized lethal force if they felt sufficiently threatened. Dr. Jessica Yamada was informed of the situation there and was scheduled to arrive by the end of September. The Wards just looked plain out exhausted. Their morale was at an all time low and even with the full-fledged Protectorate members doing their best, their best was simply not enough. Their powers are good, they could synergize well enough, but the restrictions on what weapons they could have while on patrol was still restricting them. Even though Piggot authorized lethal force the Youth Guard went ballistic and refused to allow the Ward to hold any potentially lethal weapons and were going to sue the Brockton Bay PRT ENE branch into the ground if they tried anything. All requests for reinforcements were shot down by the main PRT and Protectorate HQ in New York due to "fear of spreading Protectorate forces thin". Even though the NY HQ did not agree to transfer any Protectorate members, they agreed to transfer one of their Wards; Flechette, that is expected to arrive with Jessica Yamada. But what Sophia didn't know was that Taylor's passenger would potentially expose them through new schematics before she had the time to even think on who they were.

So, Taylor made sure she had everything she needed, said goodbye to her father and the rest of the dockworkers resent at this time and went off to Arcadia. She was as usual, in her armour that didn't really look like an armour. The weather was getting colder and no one should question her fashion sense. She still had the throwing knives hidden on her just in case. They were Tinker-tech and shouldn't react to any metal detectors and the like. She wasn't expecting to get jumped, but better safe than sorry.

Taylor arrived at Arcadia High. The school had two long four-story buildings connected by a shorter crosspiece. Her destination was the Gymnasium of the school, where they will be distributing the students' schedules and holding a welcome announcement delivered by the Student Council President Dean Stansfield. She followed the masses into the gymnasium and sat in the section designated to the first years. As the students trickled in the gymnasium Taylor gave a quick sweep around her to see if she recognised anyone. She saw Dean Stansfield standing in the middle of the stage preparing for his speech. Four others were seated behind him to the right in clear view of the students. Here was the unexpected though; Taylor's passenger whispered to her a pistol looking weapon that would shoot weak concussive blasts. _'Gallant?'_

She swept her eyes trying to see if she recognised anyone. A few minutes later, she heard a commotion on the opposite side of the gymnasium. In walked a muscled Hispanic with a loud red head boy closely followed by a yawning brown-haired shorter boy. They all seemed around the same age. A year or two older than her. The Hispanic boy had her passenger whispering vials that would slightly boost her regeneration. _'Potentially Aegis.'_ The red head resulted in a worm of sorts that would dig into the target's brain freezing it in time for one hour. The worm however could only be used against living creatures with brains, and will start deconstructing after the target is frozen; expiring at the end of the hour, making it a one-time use item. _'Clockblocker?'_ The brown haired boy had her passenger whispering of a qualitative improvement in her own powers through a vial that would form a weaker connection with the boy's passenger, allowing limited understanding of technology, and how it could be applied to her own Bio-Tinkering. _'Kid Win?'_

Behind them walked… no… -_floated_\- a blonde girl with a shorter mousey looking freckled brunette walking beside her and a bunch of girls following the blonde one like lost puppies looking for a home. She seemed to be the focus of the majority of the commotion. The moment she looked at the blonde girl, who was undoubtedly Victoria Dallon also known as Glory Girl, her passenger whispered the schematics of a small circular shield that would have a slightly larger forcefield extending over it that would be able to block any attack as long as the forcefield blocks it; but would need a couple if hours to recharge. But when Taylor looked at the brunette walking beside her; who she thought must be her sister Amy Dallon, one of the best healers in the world known as Panacea, Taylor was shocked. The girl was scowling, looked bitter, and had eyes that Taylor saw in the mirror after her trigger. Eyes filled with despair. Eyes filled with hatred. Her passenger whispered the schematics of something that startled her. A fleshy _slime_ that would be warn like second skin and allow her suck the flesh of whatever living being she touched and assimilate it into the _slime_. She would be able to compress the fleshy slime. Mould it to her will. Shaping the slime into _anything_ she wanted. A new face? A new body? Second skin? Spikes like those of a hedgehog? A blade? Anything she wanted was simply at her fingertips. It would synergize insanely well with what she had. If she added her RC Cells into the mic, she could potentially mould them into tendrils like Emma's without having to physically eating flesh like Emma. Her suit will do all the eating.

This made Taylor question the truth behind Amy's power. Because even when the weapons created put of parahumans are supposed to start out weaker than the original power due to the nature of the connections made with the power's respective passenger, having the weapon act as a proxy host than a direct connection between a living host and a passenger, the suit's power was bordering on absolute biokinetic manipulation when it came to itself rather than healing. Since Panacea could not affect herself with her own power, her power might be absolute biokinetic manipulation rather than healing. And if that was the case, she was almost exclusively using her powers for healing, probably boring her passenger out of its mind. This would not have a good end. A cape did not simply ignore their passenger's needs and wants. It was unhealthy and would lead to the cape snapping in the future. This elevated Amy's threat level to Taylor making her the most dangerous out of all the parahumans in Arcadia. She could potentially kill her with a touch. But then Taylor felt her thoughts being redirected by her passenger to her power restrictions. Yes. Panacea should be able to scan her body and organic sections of her weapons, but she would not be able to influence them. A hard lock placed as a motivator for Taylor to Tinker more. So that she would fight stronger opponents in the hopes of creating her own cure.

"Victoria Dallon. Please stop using your powers on campus." Dean spoke on the mic breaking Taylor's train of thought. Taylor looked at him noticing an exhausted smile on his face, as if this was the return to daily school life he expected. Almost everyone was silent after he spoke.

Victoria lifted herself slightly further from the ground. "Sure love. But that's if you agree for dinner tonight." She spoke seductively, "and after…" she wiggled her eyebrows, her voice turning husky.

Dean turned as red as an apple. "Vicky. We already arranged for our date tonight. Did you have to say that in front of everyone?"

"Of course!" Victoria exclaimed. She flew landing right in front of him. "I had to let the new students know that you're already mine!" She grabbed him by the shirt pulling him in for a deep kiss.

Dean didn't know what to do with himself. He enjoyed the kiss as the students, new and old radiated the amusement expected from seeing someone getting embarrassed. Some were whistling, others were going 'oooh' and 'aaah' at him and Victoria. He shouldn't have told her to stop floating. He knew she'd do something like this… but no matter how he tried to delude himself. He just loved it when she did things like this. Marking him as hers before the world. As he and Victoria ended their kiss he supressed a flinch, and glanced quickly to where Victoria flew from. As expected. In addition to the normal intense depression he saw. Amy was radiating intense distaste, hatred, and a slight amount of what amounted to killing intent that sent him into fight or flight almost instantly. This wouldn't normally be the case, but he encountered Owl of the Undersiders on his patrol on the border of their territory close to the center of the city a few days ago. She had a corpse in her hand. A freshly killed man. A remnant of the Merchants. The way she altered looks between him and the corpse, as if wondering whether the corpse she had would be sufficient or if she should add him into the mix. By the time back-up arrived she was long gone and the his encounter with the cape whose character had way too many similarities with the Siberian still had him on edge.

He fully flinched slightly again without Victoria noticing despite her being right in front of him as he felt an intense spike of surprise followed by a smug amusement. As if the individual was in on a secret that no one knew about. He located the individual and he froze once more. _'The hell is wrong with people!? Is taking tips from the Siberian the norm these days!?'_ Almost a quarter of her hair was white. But it wasn't a block of white followed the remaining black of her hair, the white was sprouting randomly forming what would be striped hair similar to the Siberian's if she had a few more strands of white than she did. _'The hell?_' She looked like she was greying. Her hair reminded him of his dad's a mixture of randomly assorted black and white. But hers was snow white rather than his dad's greyish white.

She sat at the back of the gymnasium her eyes slightly narrowed and the barest of upward tilt of her lips revealed her emotions to those who weren't him. He followed her line of sight and he was surprised to see her looking at Amy, who would have killed him if looks could kill. _'Did she realise Amy's feelings?'_. As his eyes snapped back to the girl his blood ran cold as she was staring right into his eyes. Her lips raised a fraction more and her emotions shifted into what could only be schadenfreude that intensified with the second. He was sure now. She was happy that he knew that she knew that he knew of what was happening. There was a high chance that she knew who he was. Dean was further shocked when the girl's emotions were dwindling to a dull mix of undistinguishable emotions. Her small smile faded into a neutral expression that revealed nothing to him. she crossed her arms and legs, closed her eyes and waited with the rest of the student for the orientation to begin.

He didn't know who she was. But he knew that he would be keeping an eye on her.

…

AN: -

SNOW is the Yukimura 1/3 quinque.

Major AU turns with Coil getting his hands on Emma almost immediately after her trigger.

The Undersiders skipping the small gang of thieves part and immediately going to the big leagues was not something I thought I would do at first but the addition of a psychopathic maneater that may or may not have already started exterminating the Merchants before they joined does that.

The intensity of the situation in the Bay forces Regent to go all out? Why doesn't he care if he's found?

Queen Administrator? What are you doing?

I have the rest of the Temper arc pretty much planned. It's just that I don't have a lot of free time to write. I'll try to reschedule my days a bit to pump out more chapters. Might as well since my current daily schedule is dog shit.

This wasn't reread. Please excuse the errors and ask any questions you have if there were unclear things in the chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: -

OCs entering this chapter. Some are here to stay.

New gang intensity

Double release since I might get a bit busy in the next couple of days.

Disclaimer: Racism

Temper 1.2

After the orientation was done, Taylor took the necessary paperwork and went to her classes. Amy Dallon was the only one her age from the group of capes she saw so far and they shared Biology and Math classes together. Taylor worked with the rest of the class even when she had a doctor's worth of knowledge on Biology thanks to her power and what she learned from turning corpses into weapons and armour, while Amy ignored everyone else and had medical journals spread on her desk. The first couple of classes passed by quickly and it was lunch time. Taylor headed to the cafeteria and the place was massive. There were long tables with benches that would seat six naturally, more if some chairs were shifted around. They were laid in a way creating three areas; left, middle, and right of the room, with an open wide aisle between the areas. Everything looked normal. But on second inspection there seemed to be a divide created among the students. Students from each year gravitated to each other. Friends reuniting after the summer break. This was the normal expected divide that would end with first years befriending each other But besides the expected, when looking at the layout from a different perspective, Taylor realised that the left area was dominated with tables consisting of only white students. The table in the middle of that area had students that were dressed in red and black clothes that looked more expensive than her house. There were tables with the random Asian, Black, Hispanic or other, but the non-whites looked awkward sitting next to short haired blondes. These whites probably had tattoos hidden underneath their sleeves. Some had the edges of their tattoos showing as they had their sleeves somewhat rolled up. Others incorporated a partially shaved head with the hair stylized in different ways to show were their allegiances laid in a non-direct manner that might have them expelled. These were mainly the students sitting on the table in the middle of the left area.

The group of tables of the right side of the room however, was instead dominated with Asians. They occasional white or different colored students didn't look as awkward as they were in the area with the whites. The Asians there all seemed friendly with everyone sitting in their group. It wasn't surprising to Taylor. Lung mainly lead the Asians by fear. That was something that every Asian understood, and they gave Lung their allegiance because he was willing to unite the broken remains of their race. Because he was the best option since he was clear. Even if you hate it, even if it doesn't agree with what you believe, do as he says and you'll be fine. Defy him and you _will_ be made into an example and some of the girls of their family could be taken as punishment. Males could be forcibly recruited as additional grunts because having too many grunts in the ABB was never the wrong choice in a any situation. Simple as that. Even though they didn't have any non-Asians in their gang, there were still non-Asians living in ABB territory. They, like the rest of the Asians pay the same protection fees, receive the same treatment as long as they do not displease Lung. The same rules apply to them, but the difference was that with the randomly selected male or males of their family would be brutally beaten or even killed. No one liked. They had no choice in the matter. So they all learned to adapt. Especially the upper-class Asians that usually had a lieutenant or two leading the endless see that was the normal thugs of the ABB. A leader of cannon fodder. The table in the middle of their area was occupied by six Asians with a dragon in on their shirts.

The middle area was the one occupied with the least amount of people. It was mainly dominated with Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. A very limited number of Asians sat in the middle area. _'Probably the lucky ones living outside Lung's territory.'_ The middle of the area had a table seating six. Victoria and Amy Dallon, Dean Stansfield, and who she deduced to be Aegis, Kid Win, and Clockblocker. But what was intriguing was the tables surrounding them that acted like barriers that didn't allow any students to approach the middle table at all. The majority of the people on these tables kept glancing at Victoria with eyes filled with awe and worship. Some glanced at the Hispanic boy who should be Aegis, admiring his muscles. Others looked at Dean; girls with hearts in the eyes, and boys with envy. What was universal though, was that Clockblocker and Kid Win did not have anyone directing such gazes towards them.

Since Taylor took her time to get to the cafeteria, the line to the lunch lady was short. She decided on burger and fries, a classic low-quality tasty school cafeteria food. As she was heading to the table nearest to the cafeteria door, she heard someone walking from behind towards her. she ignored whoever it was and focused on a table near the edge of the middle area intersecting with the E88 left area.

…..

Theo Anders was trying his hardest to distance himself from the madmen his father led. He was nothing more than a gnat in his father's eyes. A disgrace that was not fit to inherit his position as Kaiser. Especially with him having no powers and all that. So, his father wanted him to inherit his position in Medhall and had hopes that Theo's younger sister Aster would trigger in the future and inherit the position, even the mantle of Kaiser. Theo felt sorry for his sister. His father was set on having her succeed him no matter the means he would have to employ. He could imagine his father sending his sister to one of those training farms they had outside the city. His father after all was as ruthless as he was as charismatic as he was ruthless. And Theo understood that a ruthless leader could only gain the respect of those he led only when he was willing to be just as ruthless to himself and those close to him. That was how Theo found himself exiled from the gang. The part that dealt with cape business at least. But what no one but Kayden; his second mother and Aster's biological mother, knew, was that Theo was a good actor. A faker. Living his role as the dutiful son trying to please his father when all he wanted was to leave the gang, and by extension, his father's clutches.

That was why he was currently wracking his head for a way to get himself out of this situation. Hans, a German-American third year kid with a light German accent he knew from when he used to go the gang meetings was trying to get him to sit with him and those he used to associate with when he was still in the gang. The fact that Theo seemed to make friends with four new people. Two set of twins from what Hans and the rest of the mindless fools would consider sub-humans had apparently rubbed them the wrong way. And so Hans was here trying to separate him from his new friends and Theo was having a hard time talking him away from his table. If he talk freely he could have had the boy packing in seconds, but Hans understood as well as he did why he couldn't and so was this opportunity to ruin any chance he might have at making friends outside those he faked having in the gang. The mood was growing more and more awkward until a calm feminine voice cut through Hans' chatter.

"This seat taken?" she asked.

Theo looked at her. Benjamin Laborn, a black boy sitting to his right, and Yuki, a Japanese girl sitting to his left looked at her. Satoshi, Yuki's twin brother who was sitting opposite her looked up to his left at her. Amber Laborn; Benjamin's twin sister looked up to her right. Even Hans was shocked at what they were looking at. Theo saw a tall girl that was the whitest thing he ever laid his eyes on since Alabaster.

"This seat taken?" she asked again, he head tilting slightly to the side.

"Go ahead." Theo croaked out, hating the sound of his voice. The prospect of someone related to Alabaster merely _existing_ was a terrifying thing to him. A probable positive though was that her hair looked more like the Siberian's. A negative was that _her hair looked like the Siberian's_. The idea of someone going through the time and effort to dye their hair like the Siberian's was an even more terrifying thing to him.

Hans on the other hand saw an extremely pale individual that was dressed in white. If this wasn't Empire material, he didn't know what was. So, he switched targets. Theo was doomed either way since if he didn't, the majority of those who new the higher ups in the Empire would surely report what was nothing short of Theo betraying the cause as soon as school was over for the day.

As the girl sat down preparing to bite into her burger Hans cleared his throat. Prepared to pump as much of that sweet sweet German motherland accent he had into his speech. "Fraulein. I am sure that a lady of your grace would rather sit among the elite than on this little table here. Please do accompany me to were you rightfully deserve to be." Hans said as if he was bestowing her a gift of immeasurable value. The people in nearby tables quickly shut their mouths to properly hear what was going on. The whites on the left area were burning with jealousy.

Theo watched the girl chewing what she bit of her burger. Swallow. She looked at where he gestured with his head and saw the people near the center of the left area look at her with pleasant, inviting smiles on their faces that made Theo want to throw up. Theo watched the girl look back at Hans and give him an unnervingly blank stare.

"Thank you for the invitation, but I'm fine here." She spoke almost monotonously. "Feel free to return to your own table if your matters are finished."

Theo couldn't believe his ears. Hans narrowed his eyes in irritation as the people around gave incredulous looks. Especially those of the left area were wondering what third-year Hans Frisch would do in front of such a cold dismissal.

"Fraulein there is no need for any hostilities. I can tell that you are a first year. Please do come with me. I am sure that you would not regret sitting with us. I know that transition from middle to high school can be difficult, but my friends and I are all multicultural students on our third year in this school." He pointed at where his friends were standing. "I am half-German, Goetz over there is German. Henri and Emilia are Dutch, Hendricks and Lilly are plain old American. We are the best when it comes to helping new students settle into Arcadia." He gave another smile. "There is no need to be ashamed fraulein. We had help when we were freshmen. It really is more of a tradition at this point ja?" The people he named gave soft smiles nodding when the girl looked at them again.

"Do you take me for a fool?" the girl asked, her tone dropping dangerously low. Some students felt that some drama was developing and the phones were out and recording. "You are not even trying to hide the fact that you are with the Empire and you expect me to sit with filth like you?" Hans' smile disappeared. "The gang's symbol is tattooed on your forearm. There's a part showing right under where you have your sleeve rolled up." Hans knew that. Everyone knew that. "but what seemed to have forgotten is that we are in _school_. An institute where we go to _learn_… to _better_ ourselves… and become _proper_ functioning members of society. So that we can _hopefully_ unfuck what your delusional gangs have done to this fair city in their quest of building up their own little kingdoms. So keep whatever you and your little friends want to do for the gangs outside these walls. Even as a freshman on my first day of school I can tell that the students here know how things run around here." Theo nodded and saw several other students in the middle area nodding along side him. The 'leaders' of the middle area just kept watching. He saw Victoria Dallon frowning. He didn't know why but he didn't care either.

"This is no different from the way things go at Winslow." Everyone stilled. Comparing Arcadia High, a school for the elite by the elite to a cesspit like Winslow was something nobody liked. "The only difference is that you're higher on the ladder in the gangs, target richer targets, and try to be subtle in your show of allegiance. When the gangbangers at Winslow stab each other with knives, you use words. The knives come out after school hours." The girl finished talking her face betraying no emotion at all. Her dull grey brown eyes staring at Hans. Her slightly too wide mouth maintained in a firm line.

Theo knew what was coming up next. He's heard from people he used to associate with on how those who tried to speak in Arcadia would be beaten. One of the gang affiliated students would attack them even in school. They would likely get expelled because the attack would be classified as a gang related violence; however, they would gain additional standing in the gang for themselves and for their family for 'defending the gang's reputation'. Many of the students that received the beating would more likely than not end up in the hospital. The Wards that were rumoured to attend the school used to notify the cops and the PRT just in case, but the last time any troops arrived on school campus ended with the Wards being relentlessly targeted during their patrols. He remembered Brad Meadows, also known as Hookwolf, talking about how he put Vista in a situation that tested her mettle. Would she face him and save the civilians and tourists in Downtown from getting killed or would she save her own skin and watch as he turned those people into paste? She ended up marvellously facing him after calling for backup. He said she was a true warrior. Even when placing herself in the proximity of all these people would hamper the use of her power, making it less responsive; she faced him head on. He deemed her a true warrior and declared this battle her christening after he managed to severely injure her side, shredding her right kidney to pieces. Theo asked him if he wasn't afraid he would get a kill order on his head if Vista ended dying and Brad's response chilled him. _"Getting a kill order means I get to face more warriors. Feel their worth."_

Vista ended up surviving thanks to Panacea. Hookwolf was already scheduled to be Birdcaged on capture and the Wards had a very rough weak with Aegis seeing the limits of his regeneration. So, they were presumably ordered to only report after the fact, or immediately if a cape ended up attacking the school.

When Victoria interfered in her first year and beat the crap out of an ABB affiliated member, New Wave got to know how much of a terror Oni Lee was for 6 days straight. On the 7th day they would have been killed by Lung if the Protectorate and the Empire did not help in stopping his rampage. That was the price they paid for messing with who turned out to be son of one of Lung's most loyal, and most financially supportive non-powered generals.

The teachers that interfered ended falling victim to gang related robberies and home invasions, or simply found dead in some side alley. After going through a horrendous experience before their death.

Theo saw as Hans looked at the main group he was seated with earlier. His eyes lingering on Goetz who was the highest ranking withing the group. Goetz nodded.

Hans had his orders now. He took off his red button up shirt, having left his jacket at his table. The gang symbols were now exposed to all. The older students knew the drill and instructed the freshmen on what to do. Whatever happens, don't make a sound, and most importantly whatever happens, don't interfere. One of the teachers supervising over the area went to get the principal. The lunch lady stopped serving food and went closer to the girl and the E88 student, a spatula in hand, ready to interfere as soon as she saw the thug getting over the line. She would wait a bit longer than usual in these cases though and would make sure to discretely spit in whatever the silly girl ordered from her again. She had to show her support to a believer in the cause somehow and the silly little girl would get what she deserved.

Theo watched as the odd girl place her burger back on the lunch tray and stand up slowly. Her eyes boring in Hans' as she moved to face him.

"There is a system in here new girl." Hans spoke. All the elegance he was portraying before gone. "And this system dictates that the status quo that is currently established between the gangs and the PRT among the capes be maintained in specified locations among the non-powered members of the gang to make sure that things don't take a turn for the worse in this city. So that the good white people don't end up suffering more than they already have to with the unending infection of the sub-humans and the government's inactivity in helping the good people in these difficult times. When they should stand with us, they stand against us, giving our jobs to the worthless chinks and niggers while we starve and pay the price of their inadequacy."

Hans made a gesture to those at his table and Theo knew things were gonna turn ugly. The girl would most likely end in the hospital for a long time. There was no one to interfere this time. And she was the first of the new batch of freshmen to question the gang presence in the school. She had to be taught a lesson. Used to send a message to the rest of the batch; defy the gangs and that is how you end up. They need to understand that Brockton Bay is not like other cities in the US, it is the exception. Here, if they do not follow the rules they will disappear.

Goetz stepped towards Hans and handed him some brass knuckles. He said something in German Theo couldn't make out and went back to were he was standing before, anticipating the coming beating.

"You tried to break the balance that we all agreed on establishing." Theo heard more than saw Victoria snorting while muttering _'Yyyeah right!'_ sarcasm dipping off her while her boyfriend tried to calm her down.

"You need to learn your place. What happens when you insult the Empire." Hans put on the brass knuckle clenching and unclenching his fists ready to put them to use.

Theo saw the girl reach into her coat and surprisingly pulled two regular white leather gloves. They looked like a set with the outfit she had on. She put the gloves on pulling them down to make sure they were fully on.

Hans looked incredulously at the girl. "Gloves? What are they supposed to do? They don't even look hardened at the knuckles."

"They're not." the girl replied lowering her arms down to her side. "They're plain old regular gloves. As for what they do? Well… they're for protection." Her eyes narrowed and her lips tilted downwards in disgust. "After all, it would be quite disgusting if I got any of your dirty nazi blood on my hands."

…

AN: -

Why do you think did Taylor go for the escalation route? Why did she snap in this non-Taylor fashion? It's explained in this chapter and the next one. If things aren't clear on this end feel free to ask. I'll answer to the best of abilities.


	11. Chapter 11

Temper 1.3

At the start of lunch break, Dean wanted to try approaching the odd Siberian looking girl he saw during orientation earlier today. He didn't share classes with her besides Math and Chemistry. Math wasn't the class they had before break and Chemistry was their last class today. He told the rest of the Wards and New Wave that he saw someone he was slightly interested in due to the way their emotions looked to him during the orientation when Vicky was kissing him. He more felt Amy's stare than see it. By lunch time she came late to the cafeteria. He saw how she observed the layout of the cafeteria while looking for a place to sit. Her eyes suddenly twitched as if she noticed something and her emotions spiked with disgust. They were quick to return to neutrality and she went on walking towards a table she saw.

He pointed at her and told those sitting with him that she was the one he told them about and that he was going to invite her to sit with them. Victoria's brows furrowed in what he saw was petty jealousy to him inviting a girl to their table. It was understandable since he knew that he was also as jealous as she was when it came to her as well. It was simple really. She was his and he was hers. End of story. He looked at how she was and mouthed to her _'Tonight' _followed by a wink. She giggled and nodded enthusiastically at the reminder.

"Siberian cosplay plus clothes?" a collective groan at Dennis being Dennis. "Alabaster's sister?" another groan with a "Shut up Dennis" from Chris, also known as Kid Win. Dean started walking towards her, but as he got closer she sped off to a table with one Hans Frisch standing at its head. Hans was as old as he was and in some of his classes. He did nothing to hide his affiliation like many other affiliates and no one could really do anything about it. The only ones who might do something were those related to the Dockworkers' Union since they were well equipped and willing to use lethal force to protect themselves, but there were no students with direct relation there that were willing to risk things with the gangs. Being a worker was different than being a son or a daughter that wasn't exposed to the gangs first-hand.

Everything went to shit from there. Within a minute, things went from normal everyday life to something similar to days that rarely happen these days. Dean walked back to his table. "She insulted the Empire specifically and the gangs in general. Another show of force is about to happen."

A collective fuck was muttered on the table. "What do we do?" asked Kid Win.

"Nothing." Panacea and Carlos, also known as Aegis, replied simultaneously. They looked at each other.

"I'm not in the mood to heal any unnecessary wounds that you'll get. Intervening in this when you know how the gangs will retaliate is idiotic." Panacea grumbled. "I'll just heal the girl after the nazi is done with her."

"Just follow protocols. As soon as it's done, we call the cops and prepare our reports." Carlos said; the rest nodding in approval. Vicky was agitated, getting angrier and angrier almost slipping up and losing control of her aura. the Wards were trained to ignore her aura when it was at this level, and Amy was pretty much immune, only the usual anger, hatred, and crippling depression were present. She was also however very annoyed. Probably at having to heal someone that went and antagonised the gangs on the first day of school.

Things kept getting worse and worse until Hans got some brass knuckles from Goetz. Vicky kept getting more and more agitated and the rest were getting more and more worried since they understood that the Empire was going all out today. He tried calming Hans with some discrete use of his power, but nothing was working as the girl was getting on Hans' nerves at every turn.

"I would be quite agitated if I got any of your dirty nazi blood on my hands." Dennis gave a lowly whispered "Savage" and before anyone could comment, Hans exploded into action.

He was slightly taller than the girl but had the weight advantage no questions asked. Everyone was expecting the girl to get beaten black and blue. To cower as Hans' fist approached her face. They thought that the way she acted was all but an act. Something she practiced evoking a sense of confidence and assurance in herself to try and keep trouble away from her. But then the unexpected happened. She slightly tilted to left, avoiding Hans' right straight punch. She grabbed his wrist pulling him towards her direction as she shifted; her body facing Hans' side.

Hans' right elbow joint locked as his arm extended. His right foot that he had placed to the back left the ground as his body moved where his arm was pulled. His left leg that was bent at the knee straightened with his sudden movement and his left knee joint locked with his leg fully extending.

Dean felt his heart pounding in his chest, everything was moving so slow and he could do nothing but hold his breath as he watched. The girl violently delivered a perfect uppercut style palm strike with her left, breaking Hans' elbow with a sickening crack. Her right hand moved to his right shoulder steadying his weight as her body started to shift. Her footing adjusted on the fly, her body fully twisting releasing the bent-up energy with a devastating kick that broke his left knee.

The girl let go of him taking a step back. Hans collapsed on the floor not knowing what just happened. Blood seeped out of were the humerus of his arm and the shin bone of his leg were protruding for all to see. "She's good. The tendons in Hans' his arm and leg were snapped. He'd be lucky to move either limb properly without parahuman healing." Carlos whispered. If anyone would know the degree of an injury from sight alone it would be Carlos considering he went through almost all kinds of injury excluding decapitation. Dean and Chris paled. Vicky had an ear to ear smile while Amy's eyes were wide as saucers with her mouth hanging open.

A few beats of silence passed and then the cafeteria was filled was Hans' wails of agony. Dean almost watched the maelstrom of emotions that was Hans go through rage, nausea; probably from the pain, hate, and most dominantly a fear that threatened to consume his very being. Tears and snot rained down his face. All the students in the cafeteria remained in shocked silence. Dean saw the lunch lady that he now learned was a closet Empire supporter glow with fear, anger, pity and a combination amounting to a righteous anger on Hans' behalf. All of Hans' friends grow angry. There was fear in them, but their anger eclipsed their fear. As if synchronized, they all took a single step forward, the lunch lady emulating them unconsciously.

That was the only step they took.

Another crack and Hans was silent. Blood, spit, and teeth flew across the floor. His jaw was obviously broken.

A spike of agitation and killing intent flashed for an instant in Dean's sight. The killing intent felt by those who experienced it beforehand driving them paler, while Vicky clenched her hands into fists, her body shaking in what seemed to be joy.

"_Shut up_." The girl's voice was colder than Brockton Bay's winter air. "_Your voice grates on my ears worm_."

She bent down holding Hans roughly by his hair dragging him towards Goetz and the rest of the Empire goons. All but Goetz took a step back, drowning in their fear. Goetz on the other hand grew more furious as his brothers and sisters of the Empire acted in such an unsightly manner. The ABB affiliates grew amused.

The girl dropped Hans unceremoniously at Goetz' feet. _"Worm with the worms. Trash with the trash."_ She spoke.

Dean saw as Goetz was radiating impotent anger and hate that seemed to grow with the second.

The girl moved backwards her arms spreading to the side, her head slightly tilted to the right. Her face was expressionless. "Do you hate me? Do you want to attack me? Feel free to do as you please. But I will not be as merciful as I was with this one."

'This was merciful!?' everyone present asked themselves.

"I'll break an arm and a leg on the same side rather than opposites." She continued as Goetz spiked with fear.

"H-hey…" a weak voice broke through. Dean saw it was Theo Anders, son of Medhall CEO Max Anders, and the boy was radiating fear unlike any around him. He was afraid for her rather than of her. "D-do you know what you've done? W-who you made an enemy out of?"

"The Empire?" she asked.

Theo nodded.

"The Empire was already my enemy. So is the ABB and the original Merchants, their remnants, and the Undersiders when you look at it from a certain viewpoint." _'Nostalgia?'_

Everyone was shocked. Dean couldn't understand what was going through the girl's head. Students were still recording. This would be on PHO the minute they stop recording. Declaring all major gangs as enemies was at the very least insane. At most suicidal.

"Miss Hebert, I think you've gone a bit too far today." Vice Principal Adam White spoke as soon as he entered the cafeteria. His hair was wavy and it was going in every direction. In other words a mess. He had massive bags under his eyes. His skin was pale, his lips chapped. His white button up shirt had a part that was untucked and his neck tie was loose around his neck with the top two buttons of his shirt unbuttoned. The pants of suit and his jacket badly needed to be ironed out, and his shoes looked worn out.

"Have I Mr. White?"

"Yes.. yes you have." His reply was as bland and emotionless as the girl's. "As a matter of fact. I think you need to see that bastard as soon as you can." A hint of amusement showing in Dean's sight, and White's voice.

"Hmm… I think I should." A mirror of White's tone in girl. "You think Doc Dawk will have a mental breakdown this time?"

White's eyes widened in feigned shock, "He didn't already? The bastard was refusing to see a therapist no matter how many times I told him. Even a therapist needs a therapist you know."

The girl shook her head in disappointment, "The bastard refused to see anyone besides Yamada. She should be in Brockton by the end of the month apparently."

Mr. White sighed, "The poor poor woman. May Scion have mercy on her soul."

The girl suddenly groaned, her emotions fluctuating before settling on neutral again, "And to think I would be in this position after I nagged Sophia to try and avoid violence when encountering _scum _in Winslow. She's gonna hold this over my head for the next month."

"Serves you right." Replied Mr. White. "You _Reap _what you sow." He chuckled as the girl groaned even louder than before.

Dean and the rest of the Wards and New Wave members exchanged some looks on the name and school they just heard. Could she mean their Sophia?

"Excuse me…" Dean, every other student, the girl, and Vice Principal White shifted their head towards Theo Anders. "Mr. White... um... did you call her Hebert?"

"Yes Mr Anders. Yes I have." Dean, Victoria, and Amy could swear they heard the name Hebert before.

"DWU." The Japanese looking girl sitting next to Theo muttered.

A moment of silence passed.

A variety of 'fuck's and 'shit's passed through the right and left areas of the cafeteria in English, and many Asiatic and European languages as they scrambled for their phones to notify who needs to be notified.

Dean now understood what she meant when she stated that all the major gangs were her enemy. Of course, they would be when her father was the Head of Hiring; unofficial Head of the entire Dockworkers' Union. The only reason the Union managed to continue existing to this point with the Bay becoming more of a shithole. The man wasn't a cape but had a threat assessment made by the PRT. The only reason the Union was not considered a rogue government institute, or a gang, despite the lethal force they utilized previously was only because they had no capes while being supported by citizens from each and every social class, whether living in the Towers in the middle of Downtown, or in the Docks next to where Lung tended to stay. The girl, who he remembered was named Taylor, would have been dangerous by virtue of being Danny Hebert's daughter. But after today…

"Miss Hebert, I'm afraid that you'll have to accompany me to Principal Howell's office. He'll be deciding on your punishment for what you've done today. We will also be contacting your father to notify him of what happened today." Taylor sighed, resolved to having to talk to her father about how agitated she was when seeing an institution like Arcadia infested with filth from the gangs.

"Fine." She replied defeatedly. "But before we go Mr. White, can I say something real quick?"

"Go ahead."

She looked at Goetz. Her voice was sharp, "As I was saying before. Feel free to attack me whenever you wish. Attack in school and you'll leave with bruises and broken bones. Attack me in the Union and you might not leave with your life. Attack me at home and I'll kill you. Think about harming my Dad and I will hunt you down and kill you. Harm him and even if you escape to Earth Aleph, I will follow you there and not stop till you're dead. Attack my friends and you are also nothing more than a dead man walking."

The tension was high as ever. But then it vanished in an instant when she turned looking at Dean instead.

"Mr. Stansfield."

"Yes?" he asked, the PR training involuntarily returning a soft smile to his face even without the mask.

"Will you be available after school hours in the Student Council room?"

"Yes. Is there something you need?" Dean asked again.

"I remember you talking about clubs in the school. Soccer, Basketball, Track and others." Dean nodded. "I am looking to start a Self-Defence club where students can join to learn how to defend themselves. They will be subject to screening to ensure they aren't supporting the gangs willingly at least."

Was this her goal all along? Dean couldn't help but wonder. "Feel free to drop by. But keep in mind you need at least 5 people to start a club in Arcadia."

"We'll join." Theo Anders interjected, looking at Taylor. Taylor stared back at him; eyes narrowed. She looked at the two sets of twins. They nodded at her. She looked back at Theo, "I'll agree under a condition." She spoke.

Theo was tired of pretending. Tired of acting. Tired of faking. This would be his ticket to true freedom. He looked at those sitting on his table then back at Taylor. "Anything you need."

"You will tell me _everything_ regarding why that _filth_ was specifically at your table." Theo took a shaky breath. Taylor was staring through him. He looked at those sitting on table again, looked at those he used to associate with from the Empire. Their gazed promised consequences worse than death. He resolved himself looking back at Taylor, "Alright. After school?" he asked. She kept silent for a few seconds looking at him, as if she was searching for something in his eyes. The intensity of her gaze vanished. A soft smile lit up her face "Good. Meet me at the Student Council Office when you're done with classes. We'll agree on the location to have our talk then." Theo sighed nodding at her. Neither he not Taylor missed the rage bubbling in Goetz' eyes as he took out his hone and started rapidly texting while muttering something in German under his breath.

"Ames and I wanna join too!" Victoria exclaimed out of nowhere.

"We wanna join?" Amy asked incredulously.

"Of course we're joining! Didn't you see how she kicked that nazi's ass?! I want you to learn how to defend yourself, and I know you wouldn't go if I didn't force you so I'm coming along Ames!" Victoria exclaimed.

"We'll follow you wherever you go Vicky! We wanna join too!" shouted her followers from the tables around her. Victoria rained in her aura sheepishly.

"Take your time guys… No rush." Victoria said, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. Over half of those who wanted to follow Victoria changed their minds without her aura's influence. The rest said they need to look more into the matter before deciding.

"We're joining too then if you don't mind." Said Carlos on Chris and Dennis' behalf. Dennis was about to say something that Chris thought might be stupid. So, Chris covered Dennis' mouth and smiled awkwardly at her, nodding every few seconds.

Taylor looked at them, "Do as you wish. Meet me at the Student Council's Office after you're done for the day with the rest."

"Miss Hebert I'm we need to go. Principal Howell informed me that your father arrived at his office. Us being this late is inexcusable." Said Mister White.

Taylor nodded moving towards the door with the Vice Principal beside her.

"Hey Vice Principal White." Called out Dean. "Do you mind if I ask how you and Miss Hebert know each other? Just curious."

Taylor and the Vice Principal looked at each then turned looking at Dean. They. "We have the same shrink." They both deadpanned. Dean and the rest of the students were frozen, trying to comprehend that one of their classmates and their Vice Principal met each other by going to the same psychologist of all things.

Taylor and White looked at each other, shrugged and continued walking off to the Principal's office.

As they walked off. Dean couldn't help thinking about the utter mess he'll have to report when he goes back to HQ later tonight.

AN: -

Hope I wrote the characters that took a somewhat active part well. I sometimes feel that my characters can be clones of each other with different names. Do leave me some comments on the characterisation and any tips or wants you have. I'll try my best to utilize what you suggest.


	12. Chapter 12

AN –

Shit's fucked with Corona and my country is going into full military enforced lockdown till Tuesday. There will be hopefully more chapters these coming days.

This chapter was written over several days and I wanted to have it out asap, so do tell me if there are any inconsistencies or things that were unclear here.

Tbh, one of the reasons I was a bit slow this update besides IRL work things was because Destiny 2 Season of the Worthy launched alongside Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Void Edge. Been playing instead of writing. But with the lockdown starting tomorrow I can write and play to my heart's content.

Temper 1.4

Taylor and Vice Principal White arrived at Principal Howell's office where they saw Danny already sitting there. Taylor sat across from Danny. Vice Principal White stood slightly behind Principal Howell to his right. Danny had his arms crossed and his eyes were closed. Principal Howell, a short young woman with short brown hair and eyes, high cheekbones and small delicate lips was sitting there, simply staring at Taylor.

The silence continued for a couple of minutes as Howell stared at Taylor and Taylor stared back at her. Howell's stature didn't affect the intensity she projected. Howell closed her eyes taking a deep breath, then let is out slowly. "For starters, it's good that no one ended up dying today." Howell opened her eyes. "But, even if I and Mr. White are personal supporters of the Dockworkers' Union current goals, I cannot in good conscience as an educator and the principal of this school allow what you did to go unpunished."

"I know." Taylor replied.

"Can you tell me why I can't let this slide?" asked Howell.

Taylor nodded, "It was an excessive use of violence to resolve something that I was fully capable of resolving without going to such extremes."

"No." Howell shock her head. Taylor furrowed her brows in confusion.

"It's because your actions implied that this was the Dockworkers' Union acting against the gang presence in Arcadia through you. That we were telling everyone in the city that we were starting to take an active role in the city's conflict against the gangs, rather than the passive approach we had in defending ourselves when attacked. This in turn made your fight a conflict between the DWU and the E88." her father interjected.

"What? That's absurd… I didn't mean to…" Taylor eyes narrowed in concentration for a split second before she sagged in her chair, took off her glasses and started massaging her temple. "I totally got carried away, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did." Her father voiced out.

"I totally turned this into a pseudo gang fight didn't I?" she asked again

"That is exactly why I cannot let your actions slide. If you weren't Danny's daughter, even if you were to kill Hans Frisch, this whole thing could be spun into you merely defending yourself. Escalating to lethal force due to fear of immediate endangerment to your life with him using a weapon and all. But with the way things actually are… well, a different approach will be necessary to see how we, the Arcadia administration will react to this ." Howell hammered it in.

"You done goofed." Added White to let things sink in.

Taylor put her glasses on again and kept staring at the ceiling. "You know." She said. "I called the gangs out on what they were doing here because I was agitated. I was angry. I assumed that school would be a sanctuary of sorts, where I and all who go here can forget about the gangs and everything going on out there. A place where I can focus on normal things for once." Only Danny fully understood what she meant. He knew that all the preparation was tiring Taylor out mentally. Her power made it a point to remind her at all times that the clock was ticking. Even though the only one to know of this besides the two of them were Dawkins and Sophia who helped Taylor out with coping with her new reality; she was still stressed with the knowledge that with the way things are right now, she'll be dead by 25.

"But when Theo Anders asked about me fearing the Empire. I saw the other students look at me with _pity_. As if I bit off more than I could chew. As if my end was a forgone conclusion; that I would be another victim to the gangs. And I wanted them to know that I wasn't alone. That _they _weren't alone. That the dying hope for a better future for our city and home isn't as dead as they think." She took a deep breath looing at Danny, "Sorry dad. I put you and the Union in a difficult position."

Taylor's unexpected emotional outburst was interrupted by Adam White opening his mouth to the point Taylor thought his jaw dislocated… and releasing a massive yawn. He smacked his lips a few times. "Can you get any cheesier? The point is you fucked up. But this then, you unfucked yourself with the club thing since you basically have arguably the best healer, and _the_ Collateral Damage Barbie of New Wave interested in joining up. Not to mention Barbie's boyfriend Dean Stansfield, heir to one of Brockton's richest corporations who is undoubtedly from an _extremely rich family_. You also somehow managed to get the rest of the core students under the 'not interested in being under the gang's control' banner, as well as Medhall CEO's Max Ander's son Theo Anders and his friends. Congratulations! You won't get expelled! But you'll get a month of in school suspension for potentially crippling the rich nazi."

Howell sighed at White's antics while Danny chuckled a bit. "So, cheer up Taylor. You helped us out more than you can imagine." Her father reassured her.

"That was what I decided your punishment to be starting tomorrow." Said Howell, "But you'll need to put more effort than the rest of the students since you got into this mess at the start of the school year. I will also let you know that what you did today will hopefully end up helping us in dealing with the gangs in this institute. And Miss Hebert, do keep in mind that you have some political influence that you need to keep in check."

"…We can only hope principal Howell", Taylor replied.

"Now get lost." White interrupted. "I need to get back to my nap. I'll be seeing you at the bastard's office brat."

"Alright alright calm down Mr. White. If you'll excuse me, I'll be leaving now." Taylor said as she stood to leave.

White stormed out to his office to continue his nap and Danny informed her that he'll be staying for a while longer to negotiate some contracts hiring some of the boys from the Union as additional guards for the school. "We gotta capitalise on the unexpected opportunity you provided us you know. This should keep the gangs on their toes here and show the school's view of the matter."

…..

There was a couple of hours left for school to be over and Taylor decided that it would be best to wait them out in the Student Council Office. She waited there for a while waiting for who she knew would be almost the Wards' full roster, and half the children of New Wave to arrive at the Office. She took this time to focus herself and prepare for the upcoming meeting. She needed to be focused to try and control the damage done by Glory Girl's aura to her psyche. Distractions in the form of random emotional bursts will not get the better of her. She thought of Theo Anders and what connection would someone like him have with the Empire 88. Considering the fact that some of the 'high ranking' Empire members of Arcadia were trying to get him to sit with them means that he or, more likely, his father is a high ranking member, financial backer, or general supporter of the Empire or a believer of their cause. Max Anders being the CEO of Medhall; one of the few remaining large-scale corporations still operating in the Bay and keeping it somewhat alive with its crumbling economy. The people will not stay quite if the company providing them with their medicine and one of the few remaining corporations keeping the Bay's economy alive turned out to be a supporter of a gang of Nazis. After all, having the money they spend on their medication, in some cases medicine and medical treatments necessary for their continued survival will put them between a rock and a hard place. Choose, pay for your medication and support the nazis with Medhall pumping the money you paid into the Empire, or die due to your illness.

Having the Wards and New Wave come into the DWU for any reason will draw in attention. The Wards not so much since they're in their civilian identities. But Panacea and Glory Girl, and Theo Anders himself to some extent will be drawing attention to the DWU. She had to keep the DWU safe and decided to call Sophia and ask her to come in for today's training session in her Shadow Stalker costume, and make sure she was seen. If the DWU was known to have some form of connection with New Wave, why not add the Wards in an official manner, and the Protectorate by extension. Taylor needed to make sure that the Empire mainly, and the rest of the gangs on their toes. To wonder if the PRT and the Protectorate had any connection to the DWU. To create an illusion that they would be protected in some manner by the Heroes if the gangs decide to take off their kids gloves and outright try to shut down the DWU and the protection it provides to those living in its vicinity. She wasn't sure how Armsmaster and Piggot would react to this. But she knew that Sophia would do this favour for her even if she didn't explain the circumstances to her.

After her call with Sophia, Taylor's thoughts went to her fight with Hans. She didn't cripple him because she was pissed off because of his actions. It wasn't only due to her outrage at the gangs infesting what she wanted to be her disconnection to the madhouse that was Brockton Bay's normal way of life. It was because she was starting to feel the building pressure and stress that came with her impeding death. Her passenger was also getting bored of simply training with her teachers that taught her how to fight, and simply sparring with Sophia. No matter how much they fought with intent to kill, they both weren't willing to take that final step and off the opponent. Her passenger was driving her to more violent solutions to express its boredom and Taylor knew now that she had to start her cape career. Start testing her quinques against other capes and that she had to get her first kill soon. Otherwise she'll struggle later on or she might slip up and end up killing someone on campus with how her passenger was acting. She'll need to tinker up a mask first to keep the connection between her cape persona and herself to a minimum. She hated it, but felt she had to keep any relation to the Dockworkers to a minimum when it came to caping She was confident in her strength and ability to fight any cape in Brockton Bay, but she knew that if the gangs knew that she was operating within the DWU, they'll mobilise with everything they have to remove what they considered to be a thorn in their side for the longest time, and she wasn't foolish as to not realise that even if she were to give it her all, the DWU will end in flames against the villains' united front. Even though she loathed the idea of being labelled a cape; a hero or a villain, she wasn't willing to risk the lives of those she loved over her personal beliefs. And it didn't really matter though; mask or no mask, she will be killing those that defiled her home, even if she were to be labelled a villain. That was the path she decided on the moment she triggered because the city had to be cured, and cure is a form of change that will require her be that unpredictable instrument that will destabilise the current layout in the city.

The Undersiders might have had the opportunity to do this, but they ended up claiming territory and were acting in a way that she knew Emma would never act if she were on her own. Emma was consumed by that predator prey mentality and Sophia thought it was what pushed her to triggering as a predator in every sense of the word.

The only time she'll unmask is _if_ she lost what she wanted to protect, or _when_ she becomes strong enough to make anyone think twice about attacking what she deemed under her protection. She still did not reach her peak in terms of boosts that her powers provided to her body. She was skilful and knew how to fight, but she still lacked the experience that one would gain through cape fights, fights that usually ended in certain death when it came to capes sentenced to the Birdcage like Hookwolf and Lung, or severe damage with potential death when it came to other capes. That experience would be invaluable to her.

As she started thinking on what would she'll be focusing on to counteract her future reputation as a murderer, she heard the door to the Student Council Office opened and in walked Dean, Victoria, Amy, the rest of the Wards who she still had no clue as to what their names were, Theo and his friends following shortly after them.

Dean went and sat at his desk and Taylor remained seated opposite Dean. The rest of the people sat around the office with Victoria and Amy stood at a corner with Amy looking annoyed and Victoria trying to placate her.

"You were talking about a Self-Defence Club before leaving with Vice Principal White?" Dean decided to go straight to the point.

"Yes. I am interested in starting a Self-Defence Club for those interested to join. There will be a limited number of places available for those interested to join and different available benefits to those interested in joining." Dean nodded at the explanation.

"Starting the club wouldn't be difficult since the minimum number requirement was met. A club room will be provided by the school, but you will need to find a teacher at the school willing to supervise, and through that teacher, you will need to report any outdoor activities to the principal. The club will be led and run by the students, but the teacher will act as a manager to help run the club smoothly. In order to keep the club running and for members to remain members of any club in Arcadia it is required for all members to pass all their exams and keep their marks up. Those are the standard terms for starting a club in Arcadia High and keeping membership when taking art of an extracurricular activity in Arcadia." Dean explained the necessary requirements for starting any club and keeping membership. He took out all the necessary paperwork for starting the club and Taylor signed off on the necessary documents.

Dean continued explaining "All the documents to start your club are ready. But since your club deals primarily with self-defence which will be used in situations involving violence, the school gave me the right to ask for a detailed explanation on what exactly will be going on in the club. How you as the captain and starter of the club will handle teaching other fellow students how to defend themselves. Whether you'll be asking the school to hire trainers of if you have the necessary qualifications and documents that qualify you to teach other students safely. So, I need to know if you have any documents that qualify you as a trainer, or if you know any people with the necessary qualifications that are willing to teach at the club. I also reserve the right; as the Student Council President and the one responsible for keeping an overall eye on student activities within the school, to see a demonstration of what a regular session would be like. Only after I confirm that everything meets the minimum requirements, I'll give you the sign-up documents that need to be signed for other students to join your club."

Taylor narrowed her eyed in consideration at what he said. Well that makes it easier, she was planning on having everyone join her to the Dockworkers' Union. She nodded her head and stood up. "Alright. But I'll have to ask you to come with me now to the Dockworkers' Union. I have my training area set up there, and the one at the Self-Defence club will be modelled after the one I have there. There will also be a training session similar to the one I plan to have all members go through held over for the Union members signed up at the DWU for the Self-Defence weekly sessions. It'll be better the sooner we get this out of the way." She gave Dean a stare making him know that she wasn't taking no for an answer and that he'll have to go there to know the details of what she has planned for her Self-Defence club. He can get some information on the DWU as well. All that tried to force themselves in there were gang members that ended up dead, even their corpses were collected by the DWU and were not seen again. As for normal visitors, there was the occasional Protectorate visit when a cape or two would show up to harass the Union, but those stopped after the capes knew that they would be injured after the DWU started keeping the weapons that the unpowered gang members brought when they attacked the Union and those living around it. Piggot would love to know anything really, when it came to the insides of the DWU. All government inspections came out the same as usual, but there must be something different there than what they show in the normal inspections, and that would likely be partially shown to him today. After all, he never heard of DWU run Self-Defence weekly sessions.

"Alright." Said Dean. "I'll go with you to the DWU whenever you're ready."

Taylor gave Dean a small smile that he would have missed if he wasn't looking closely at her. Taylor was startled when Victoria all but flew over to where Taylor and Dean were standing while pulling Amy behind her. "We're coming too!" exclaimed Victoria as she gave Dean and Taylor a beaming smile. "I'm Victoria Dallon, but feel free to call me Vicky that's what all my friends do!" Taylor was startled. How was she so blind? How could she not notice how perfect Victoria was? How her blonde hair reflected the light? How her blue eyes outshined the most brilliant of gems? How her lips were plump and looked so enticing. How her body looked _so good_. Yes… she was a _Goddess_. Nothing else could look so good. Nothing mortal could be so _glorious_. Yes… this was an existence that demanded _Glory _by merely existing. A being that one could not simply ignore. When she walks everyone must look. When she speaks everyone must listen. When she breathes everyone should be thankful that she was breathing the same air as they were when she obviously deserved something better.

She heard Amy yelling something about an Aura. But what was louder than Amy's yelling was a

**.**

**.**

**.**

_**CRACK**_

**.**

**.**

**.**

A spike of pain blindsided Taylor's fascination with Victoria and set her head on straight. She looked down and saw her right hand wrapped around her left index finger. She unwrapped her hand and saw her index finger dislocated at the joint below the knuckle, pointing straight up. She was annoyed, even when she had prepared herself, she was completely blindsided by that **WORSHIP ME** aura. But she was also relieved. She wasn't sure if her passenger took over he body for a second there if it was simply her body's natural response to emotion altering masters, but she noticed that her body was in full fight or flight mode. Her heart was beating wildly, and she felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins. Having to explain how someone would break their own finger subconsciously would be tricky.

The aura subsided and Taylor noticed everyone was looking right at her. She took a dee breath and _**…CRACK…**_she relocated her finger and started stretching it gently with her right hand to make sure that it was fine. She saw Dean, Amy, and Victoria flinch at the sound. She looked behind her and saw the rest with faces draining of color. She looked at her finger again and clenched and unclenched her hand into a fist testing out the extent of the damage. Everything seemed to be working in order so she looked a up again, but this time at Victoria. She narrowed her eyes at her and asked a question that wasn't so much a question as it was a demand, "Will you please stop trying to master me with your aura?"

Instead of simply abiding by Taylor's request Victoria looked outraged. "I'm not trying to master you! And my aura is a Shaker effect! I'm not a Master!"

Victoria's aura spiked again and Taylor started thinking that maybe she was exaggerating things. Yes… she had to apologise to Victoria. Yes… she was wrong. How could she accuse the girl that was perfect in every way she wasn't of mastering her? Taylor bit the inside of her cheek hard enough for it to bleed and snapped out of it. She felt vulnerable the first time she was hit with the aura, but she felt a bit more in control this time. She consciously snapped herself out of it rather than rely of her passenger or instincts. Maybe her RC cells were helping her body adapt? She wasn't sure.

"I phrased that incorrectly." Taylor told Victoria. "My point is that I would like it if you stopped blasting me with an emotion tampering power that was trying to force me into loving you." she stated with no signs of emotion.

It was then that Taylor noticed Victoria's eyes twitching. Amy walked away towards the other Wards and everyone looked worried. The first sign of something going wrong was an involuntary flinch and it then hit her. _Terror_. An instinctual feeling of _fear and despair_. Victoria looked terrifying. The beauty her power made Taylor see turned into something horrifying. The girl changed from a goddess that loved all and demanded all to love her back to a goddess about to smite those that defied her. Taylor's hands twitched as she forced herself not to draw her SCORPIANs and attack. She needed to focus. To be as calm as she could. She felt her passenger help out a bit as the terror moved to the back of her mind and her body resisted the effects of Victoria's aura. _'Was this Victoria's passenger exhibiting its influence? She seemed to get agitated when one did not conform with her will.' _Taylor thought. _'Her power seems to take the concept of Glory way too seriously. As if any that didn't treat her as a glorious being would be deemed an enemy. Her passenger wants everyone to love the girl because of its influence, not for Victoria herself.' _Taylor inhaled sharply as she forced the slight shivers going through her body to a stop. She saw Victoria glaring at her as if she was daring her to oppose her. Taylor scanned the area quickly. The brown-haired boy she knew to be Kid Win was standing next to an extremely pale Theo Anders. The Asian twins were as pale as Theo and the Black twins seemed a bit worse than the rest. The girl was downright sobbing, shivering, and her brother looked more pissed than afraid. The Hispanic boy she knew to be Aegis was arguing with Amy and the redhead. Dean who she knew to be Gallant was trying to calm Victoria down subtly with his power. The only reason she knew was because his index fingers kept moving in Victoria's direction every few seconds.

"All members of the Dockworker' Union are required to know how powers work." Taylor spoke drawing attention to herself. "A minimum level of knowledge is required for all members in order to know how to confront capes of all kinds. Preparation is key after all. Now Victoria Dallon, you are a hero and I would hate to hurt you so I will ask you one more time to stop using your aura on the civilians you are expected to protect or do I need to _make _you stop?"

…..

As if remembering that there are other people around her and Taylor for the first time Victoria flinched blinking her eyes rapidly. The aura subsided, almost vanishing, and Victoria took a quick look around her. She saw Dean looked at her disapprovingly with the look he reserved for when she fucked up badly. Amy was more looked worriedly at her. Carlos, looked pissed and Dennis and Chris looked awkward. But what made her realise the extent of her fuck up was the pale twins Satoshi and Yuki, the Black girl named Amber was sobbing, clinging to her brother Benjamin, while he was looking downright murderous at her. Victoria flinched at his gaze, knowing that she lost control over her aura and did what would amount to assault with Parahuman ability. She just met these people today and they looked like they would be nice friends to have. She always loved having more friends. _More friends that would look at her and love her and accept her._

She knew that she wanted Taylor as a friend. The girl _looked _interesting and backed that up with kicking a nazi's ass. What else could she want more in a friend? Well… potentially being a cape was a plus. She never saw anyone besides combat thinkers and Armsmaster with active help from his armour to make his moves as efficient as possible move so precisely, and the take down she executed was one at a level that Armsmaster would praise at. So Victoria decided to try and use her aura a bit more than she usually does to try and get the girl to like her. She's grown used to such methods. Since she couldn't disable her aura fully it didn't really matter. She understood that a great majority of those who called themselves her friend were under the influence of her aura and she loved it. No need for silly disputes over childish things. She'll be happy and they'll be happy as long as she was happy and if any external factor tried to influence her friends' happiness, she'll show them how a hero operates. God knew she'd wanted to keep whatever of her civilian life she had left with her being an unmasked cape and all as organised and peaceful as possible. The chance to live like any normal American would live would surely come easier with use of her power, and as long as she kept the dose to a minimum, she'd be all fine and dandy. Her power being not long lasting with people getting more immune the more exposed they were made it so that even if they were influenced into being her friend at first, they'd have started loving her for her by the time they were immune.

But when Taylor tried to go against what she would normally do, Victoria was flustered, and she did what she normally did whether she wanted it or not. She instinctively relied on her powers. They were meant to help fix problems like these no? She might have triggered after getting fouled in a basketball game; but that wasn't the tipping point and she knew it. It was the fear of not meeting expectations. The fear of being a failure. She was a daughter of Flashbang and Brandish of New Wave, legends that got the Marquis in the Birdcage. How could she as their daughter not have powers? How could she get bullied in school when she was young? How could she not be the center of attention in all she does? How could she not be smarter than Amy when Amy was the one to be adopted? She was the daughter of heroes so how could she be so… disappointing. The looks. The expectation of greatness thrust upon her culminated in a last second shot that would have brought her and her team to victory; only for it all to come crashing down when she was fouled. Her mother's look of disappointment for something outside her control tipped thing over the edge and she felt herself not land on the ground from the foul as she floated a few meters back and stayed in the air.

And now the power she grew to rely on metaphorically stabbed her in the back. She cracked half a smile feeling her anxiety spike. "O-Oops…. hehehe". She felt her anxiety rising further as the looks of disapproval kept centered on her. She wanted to fly home and hide under her bedsheets and cry till she felt better. But she couldn't. But she wanted to sooo bad but she couldn't and then Taylor gave her this measuring looks that her mother used to give her when she fucked up and was measuring what punishment would be enough to teach her lesson. And Taylor bless her kind heart extended an olive branch.

…..

"Are you calm now?" she asked. "In control of your aura?" Victoria nodded her head rapidly. She saw Taylor give her the slightest of smiles "Water under the bridge. I heard from my dad that it was easy to lose focus and lose control in powers that were constantly active like yours, so no harm done. But any effect from your aura will not leave any lasting effects, right?" Victoria nodded again. "That's good." Taylor said. "But I think you need to apologize to someone else when this is all done and dealt with" she said again motioning with her head in the twins' location.

"I will" Victoria said. "But I should give them some time for the effects to leave them fully."

Taylor nodded her head and clapped her hands twice drawing all attention to herself again. "Now that that's dealt with. I still haven't introduced myself to all of you here. I'm Taylor Hebert. Nice to meet you all. I hope that you all will join us to the DWU so that I can show what you all will be getting yourselves into by joining the Self-Defence Club." Yuki and Amber looked like they were going to object but Satoshi and Benjamin whispered something in their ears that calmed them down."

"I'm Benjamin Laborn and this is my sister Amber. It's nice meeting you. We will be joining you to the DWU to see how things turn out." Benjamin talked on both his and his sister's behalf as Amber was still recovering from the aura's effects making Victoria feel worse than she already was.

"I'm Satoshi and this is my sister Yuki. A pleasure to meet you. Do excuse her silence, she just doesn't really like interacting with people much. As for last names? We chose to abandon our long ago so please do not ask of them. We too want to join the Self-Defence Club and would love to get an idea of what it would entail by seeing the demonstration at the Dockworkers' Union." Taylor nodded.

"Pleasure's all mine. I hope you feel satisfied with what you see when we get there." Taylor responded. Yuki nodded at her and she nodded back. Taylor turned saw the brown haired awkward looking boy standing next to them.

He cleared his throat smiling at her, "I'm Chris. Nice to meet you Taylor. I don't look like it but I have some basic knowledge in self-defence and would be happy to join you at the DWU to see what you're thinking of teaching us."

Taylor returned his smile with one of her own raising one of her brows "Never thought you'd be one to know how to fight. But sure, I hope you find what you're looking for today."

Before she could talk to the redhead and the Hispanic the redhead shot towards Chris wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "Why're being so stiff Chrisy?" he asked with a huge grin plastered on his face. "You gotta relax a bit more you know what I'm saying?" He said while massaging Chris' shoulder. Before Chris could respond he turned he looked at Taylor, grin still on his face. Taylor couldn't help but think that a smile suited him and unconsciously smiled at his grin. He was slightly shorter than her. "I'm Dennis by the way." he said. "Chris, Carlos there" he said pointing at the Hispanic boy standing next to him "sorry to hijack your intro Carlos" Carlos huffed, "and I all know some basic self-defence, we learn from the same teacher after all. But the real important question that I'm sure is on everyone's mind is how did you do it?"

Taylor tilted her head to the side, "How did I do what?"

"The hair!" Dennis exclaimed making Taylor's eye twitch with irritation.

"Dennis I swear-" she heard Carlos say before Dennis interrupted with "I never thought I'd see a Siberian cosplayer in real life! How did you make it look so natural?"

Everyone groaned and Carlos gave Taylor an apologetic look. She winked at him discretely. Carlos was confused but knew that Taylor was going to play Dennis when she started speaking.

Taylor grabbed her hair twirling a few strands along her right index finger. "Do you like it?" she asked Dennis. "I'll be sure to tell mother you like our hair." She continued not waiting for Dennis. Her tone was flat. Dennis never heard something being said more seriously than when Taylor just spoke. He would have called bullshit anytime of the week and seen this for what it was in an instant. But Taylor's monotone voice. The seriousness radiating off of her was more than enough to fool him.

"M-Mother?" Dennis croaked.

"Yes." Taylor said. "Remember when the Slaughterhouse 9 came by the Bay a little over a decade ago." Dennis nodded stiffly. "The only reason they left was because mother finished delivering me to Uncle Danny. They had no purpose in staying where they were by then."

"U-Uncle?" Dennis whispered. Carlos and Chris were biting their lips trying not to burst out laughing.

Taylor nodded twice. "Of course." She held up a finger in a show of enlightening the foolish. "Did you think that mother Sibby being invulnerable meant she couldn't have kids? Foolish. Danny in actuality is my uncle. My mother is the Siberian while Mannequin is my real biological father. Did you think you could get as white as I am without having a father with plain white tinker armour plate for a body? Did you think I have bones in my body? Well you're wrong, these are just tightly bound chains that will allow me to extend my limbs at will. See?" and then Taylor lashed out her hand in towards Dennis' face. He flinched closing his eyes. When he opened his eyes again his face through a weird mix of emotions before settling on neutral and he had a thousand-yard stare as he looked at Taylor's raised middle finger and brightest smile she had all day. But his face went bright red, then ale white, then bright red again when Taylor petted his head and asked "Did I scare you Dennis? Don't be afraid. I'll tell mother not to eat you alive when she drops by in the future."

Carlos and Chris burst out laughing and the tense atmosphere from when Victoria fucked up vanished completely just like that.

"But seriously! You can't leave me hangin like that. How does it look so natural?" Dennis asked after everyone stopped laughing.

Taylor saw everyone looking at her curiously, so she went with the planned response. "Trade secret." Another collection of sighs rang out. "Now before we leave. There are a few things I need to talk with Theo about for a few minutes. We'll be back in a few."

"Ummm…" Taylor paused looking at Victoria that looked like she really wanted to say something but was contemplating the means of saying it. Victoria looked at Amy that was standing beside her and looked at Taylor. "Um… do you need any help with your finger? I'm sure that Amy will be willing to help with the healing…"

Amy frowned for a split second and that did not go unnoticed by Taylor. Everyone froze remembering that the girl that broke her own finger, then reset it back into position was standing like she didn't just do what she did. Taylor turned from Victoria to Amy. Looked into her eyes and she could see that the girl looked frustrated. Everyone assumed that she must want to heal every injured person she met and didn't ask for her opinion. But she looked frustrated and worn out. She'd seen Doctor Dawkins look like that after the first couple of months the daily sessions she had after her trigger. He said he was getting burnt out. That he was exhausted from his work and that she sucked the enjoyment he had in being a therapist out of him. That he needed some 'me time' that had him stay as far away from patients as possible. That meant that he went into isolation in his house downtown and didn't leave for a month straight. He said everyone was mental in this world nowadays and mere sight of them was enough to trigger him.

Now Taylor was at a crossroad. She could let her paranoia control her and have her avoid Amy like the plague that she could potentially unleash on the world if she snaps. Or she could help Amy unshackle her passenger. The Doc would surely hate her for this, but secretly helping a potential S-class threat into reaching her peak and reaping the most benefits would placate his anger. And if she refused to listen to what he said and threw everything they said to try and help her out the window he wouldn't mind for she would show _conviction_. Yes… Amy would look magnificent in a coat like hers. Maybe blood red in color? Or was a suit of flesh like the one her power could make be better. She was sure that if Amy and her passenger cooperated for once greatness could be achieved. But this would be tricky. She remembered how Amy looked at Dean and her sister. Maybe Victoria's aura wasn't all that harmless. If the short-term effects were emotional tampering the long term could be emotional reprograming? Emotions were chemical releases regulated by the body and actively making someone feel extreme love for years on end would make the aura function like a drug? Add puberty to the mix while getting your body and mind's concept of love and sexuality tampered with while living with a family that was probably emotionally warped into loving your sister more than you and that problem becomes life ruining. Add absolute bio-kinesis with a passenger actively trying to sabotage its host and that problem becomes threatening to those around.

But if she was to try now, she would surely make a spectacle. Amy would probably panic for not being able to affect her. She might also send Amy into a fugue with her scan of RC cells. That is something that should be left to mor subtle means or the privacy provided at the DWU. She wasn't going to open this can of worms with all these people present around. Yes… if she was to have Amy's head screwed on properly or as properly as possible with things at this point she needed privacy to hammer things away or subtlety that wasn't currently available for her.

"There's no need to heal something like that." Taylor said shocking those around her, especially Amy who was used to people jumping at the opportunity to be healed by Panacea.

"B-But didn't you break your finger?" asked Dennis. "It surely needs healing." He then gave her this odd "You're not a regenerative type cape are you?"

"No I'm not." Taylor deadpanned. "I also didn't break my finger, I dislocated it at the joint. My tendons are flexible enough to handle something like that." The others were looking at her like she was some kind of monster and Amy was walking towards slowly.

Taylor looked at Victoria, "Remember how I told you that all members of the DWU need to reach a minimum threshold of knowledge on capes? Knowledge alone is not enough, and that goes double for me considering that I'm a prime target to be taken as a hostage by the gangs to try and force dad into things he doesn't want to do. So let's just say that I'm used to push my body to its breaking point when I train just in case I have to face a cape in the future." Taylor said as she clenched and unclenched her left hand into a fist.

Taylor put an end to this conversation by dragging Theo outside into another room and leaving a "Back in a few." To the rest.

A not so short 30 minutes later Taylor and Theo walked in again. 45 minutes after that everyone was the Dockworkers' Union.

…..

AN –

Longest chapter yet.

It might look like there was no progress made in this chapter but I hoped to give Victoria specifically more characterisation as I feel that her passenger has more control over her life in a way how her aura works currently. I also wanted to have Taylor get a general direction in how she plans to deal with Amy.

Please remember that in this AU all the Wards and the young members of New Wave are more experienced than in canon with Vista being the most experienced of the Wards. This means that all the Wards have alarm bells ringing in terms of potential cape since a 15 year old girl was carrying herself with the air of a master.

I hope that the characters in this chapter felt different than a reskin of a template. As I said previously, I struggle when it comes to writing and expressing the different personalities I envision for my characters.

Next chapter gonna be the Wards and the rest at the DWU where they see the normal demonstration and the hardcore one with Shadow Stalker. With Taylor starting her cape career.

Please let me know if there are any inconsistencies in this chapter since this was written over several days.


End file.
